Cytotec po or vaginally

Where I work we have always used cytotec vaginally now we are doing more po cytotec for inductions. Just wondering what everyone's experience is with this?

We are a small rural hospital that only does low risk patients.

It seems to work really well, but was kind of wondering what everyones monitoring protocol was after receiving po cytotec.

thanks

[allevi]

:)

[JenTheRN]

Personally, I have never heard of giving cytotec po for induction/cervical ripening. How effective is it? We have one doc who uses it vaginally, and we usually get good results.

[allevi]

the few that we have done have delivered in about 5 hours

It sounds like from our docs anyway that they are doing this more in the larger facilities. It still makes me nervous, but according to some literature, po cytotec is actually safer to do than vaginal.

[JenTheRN]

Interesting...you would think that the vaginal/cervical cytotec would be more effective as it is acting locally on the cervix.

Something to think about...

[SmilingBluEyes]

I have done it both ways, vaginally and orally. The effectiveness/unpredictability is exactly the same. It either works or not, sometimes TOO WELL. I have seen the same effects both ways, with little to no difference. I would think patients would prefer the oral route, I know I would.

[palesarah]

Deb, is your facility still using cytotec po? Is your policy the same for po & vaginal re: monitoring, doses etc?

[SmilingBluEyes]

We do it vaginally where I work. Where I used to work, it was given PO. Like I said before, the results were the same. I am not at all fond of cytotec for labor/cervical ripening purposes.

[USA987, MSN, RN, NP]

We do not use Cytotec at all for the purpose of cervical ripening. The only exception is for a fetal demise.

[rnrdms]

:balloons: I have been doing the cytotec thing for 16 years. I hate cytotec vaginally for any but primips (prev moms bleed to much).. PO haven't seen the bleeding problems. NOW here goes I think it works best rectally... quick deliveries and scant pp bleeding. and for multips with big babies rectal cytotec is WONDERFUL for controlling bleeding... Let me tell you we have been minutes away from stat hyst and boom rectal cytotec.... I LOVE IT:nurse:

[babynurse93]

Where I work we have always used cytotec vaginally now we are doing more po cytotec for inductions. Just wondering what everyone's experience is with this?

We are a small rural hospital that only does low risk patients.

It seems to work really well, but was kind of wondering what everyones monitoring protocol was after receiving po cytotec.

thanks

I have worked where they have given PO cytotec. The major problem with this is that once it is given, you can't remove it. If it is given vaginally and the patient has severe hyperstimulation or fetal distress you can do a "vaginal wash" to remove what is left of the pill. With a PO dose, you cannot do this, only give terbutaline and hope it works. (It usually requires multiple terb. doses).