Nitrous Oxide use may come back to the US for labor pain management!!

[klone]

[h=2]Nitrous oxide returns for labor pain management[/h]

or much of the past decade, most pregnant women in the United States have not had access to nitrous oxide for analgesia during labor because the only company that sold a nitrous oxide machine for obstetrics in this country stopped making it.

This year, though, "laughing gas" for labor pain is back.

The Nitronox system delivers a fixed mixture of 50% oxygen and 50% nitrous oxide that is safe, effective, inexpensive, simple, and popular with many laboring women, said Judith T. Bishop, C.N.M., M.P.H.

[benegesserit]

My understanding is that it's similar to a light dose of narcotics - it isn't going to take away the pain entirely, but can reduce it to a more manageable level. It can make you a little loopy, and some women don't like that and don't want to continue with it. But in that case, you just stop breathing it and the effects quickly go away, unlike narcotics where you're stuck waiting out the dose.

[subee, MSN, CRNA]

And its a lot cheaper than having an anesthesiologist put a garden hose in your back. CHEAPER is the operative word. I can't see insurance companies and Medicaid continue to pay for epidurals forever except for proscribed situations.

[seemerun]

I work at a big busy hospital in WA and we do not have nitrous. However, I just found out that a very small hospital in a rural part of the state HAS started using nitrous with positive feedback. They say it has to do with high Hispanic population and their general fear of epidurals? I do not know if that's a true statement but it's how it was presented.

[klone, MSN, RN]

They say it has to do with high Hispanic population and their general fear of epidurals?

Yes, that has been my experience. I've always worked in facilities that have a high Latino ratio (about 40%) and they tend to get epidurals with a lot less frequency than white or black women. When they verbalize WHY they don't want one, they usually say that they don't want to become paralyzed.

[3aremyjoy]

I can speak to being a labouring mom who had N20.

GREAT STUFF!!!

You inhale during the contractions, and continue inhaling and exhaling into the mask until the contraction is finished.

It takes you to a warm, swimmy, happy, very far removed from labour pains place.

You remove the mask, inhale a bit of room oxygen, and recover from your contraction.

My favourite thing to say about laughing gas during labour is that "You still feel the contraction, but you just don't care".

[soccerchick]

Does anyone have any EBP journals on this subject? I would love to present this topic to my manager to see if it has ever been explored or considered.

[ijuanabhappy, ASN, RN]

I'm not an L&D nurse yet.... (hope to be one soon next month ... but I've been watching labor and delivery videos on Youtube for the past couple of days and saw a woman using what they called "laughing gas" and it seemed like her labor went along very smooth. If it is deemed safe, I think this would be great!

[klone, MSN, RN]

Yes, that's what nitrous oxide is. :)

[ijuanabhappy, ASN, RN]

Yep :) She was actually smiling during contractions! I might have opted for that over epidurals with my three kids had it been offered

[TRINI_RN]

This seems like a wonderful alternative to the current methods of pain control available. I wonder how many hospitals are looking into bringing it back. I also wonder if the anesthesia community will try to block it.

[subee, MSN, CRNA]

This seems like a wonderful alternative to the current methods of pain control available. I wonder how many hospitals are looking into bringing it back. I also wonder if the anesthesia community will try to block it.

I think you can count on seeing attacks on N20 from the anesthesia community. Epidurals are a big money maker for them.

[TRINI_RN]

I think you can count on seeing attacks on N20 from the anesthesia community. Epidurals are a big money maker for them.

I figured as much.