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.

[MommyandRN]

Yes, I agree with above. The reason it went away? Probably because the patients were brainwashed by the medical community that epidurals and pharmaceuticals were the way to go. No profits mean no reason to give it to a patient. It would have to be something they can charge for.

I saw it on Call the Midwife too, and wondered what happened and why it stopped. This is interesting. Hopefully if enough people complain it will be brought back.

Our pediatric dentist office uses it too... so there has to be a supplier around here somewhere!

[HeartsOpenWide, RN]

It went away because it is cheap and anesthesiologist are not needed (IMO) I sure hope it comes back!

[DoGoodThenGo]

All this talk about N20 had one giggling about those old Muppet Show skits where Miss. Piggy dressed as a nurse would be caught in the opening OR scenes inhaling from a mask.

[jwk]

Nitrous oxide is an anesthetic. It is most certainly NOT as innocuous as all of you are making it out to be. In the US, to be LEGAL, it has to be administered by a dentist, physician, or an anesthetist. Not ordered by - administered by. Big difference. An RN would be far outside their scope of practice administering N2O to a laboring patient unless they're a CRNA.

"Attacks on N2O" - are you kidding me? It's used every day in the OR.

Leaving the legalities aside - a big issue for using N2O would be scavenging of waste gases. Most patient rooms don't have near the airflow of an operating room. OR's are monitored frequently for levels of waste anesthetic gases, including nitrous.

Read the following from the CDC for more info:

http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/2007-151/pdfs/2007-151.pdf

[Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN]

Nitrous oxide is an anesthetic. It is most certainly NOT as innocuous as all of you are making it out to be. In the US, to be LEGAL, it has to be administered by a dentist, physician, or an anesthetist. Not ordered by - administered by. Big difference. An RN would be far outside their scope of practice administering N2O to a laboring patient unless they're a CRNA.

"Attacks on N2O" - are you kidding me? It's used every day in the OR.

Leaving the legalities aside - a big issue for using N2O would be scavenging of waste gases. Most patient rooms don't have near the airflow of an operating room. OR's are monitored frequently for levels of waste anesthetic gases, including nitrous.

Read the following from the CDC for more info:

http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/2007-151/pdfs/2007-151.pdf

I have seen this used in the ED as well for shoulder reductions....it is self administered...and very effective. The RN isn't administering....therefore making it all legal.