Patients' attitudes to induction and labour

Abstract

An attempt was made to ascertain patients' attitudes towards planned induction and labour. Twenty per cent of patients had not heard of induction before their pregnancy, and those who had had most probably heard about it from relations and friends rather than the media. Most patients had no firm opinions on induction of labour but were usually glad to have their pregnancy ended. Many considered that they had not been given enough information by the medical staff on their induction. The amount of pain experienced by patients at amniotomy was related to the “favourability” of the cervix. Possibly women with a low cervical score should be given more premedication or inhalation analgesia at amniotomy. Most patients found injections of narcotic agents adequate analgesia in labour. Those patients who did not receive adequate analgesia were principally those who had either very short or quite long labours. Patients with long labours may benefit from more liberal use of analgesia, but no satisfactory form of analgesia seems to be available for patients who are likely to deliver within two or three hours of induction. © 1977, British Medical Journal Publishing Group. All rights reserved.