Anesthesia for Operative Caesarean Section Delivery

Anesthesiology is a dynamic specialty of medicine that fosters continuous improvements in anesthetic care for patients undergoing surgical and obstetric procedures. The following recommendations are aimed at providing basic guidelines to anesthetic practice for operative delivery with caesarean section. They are intended as a framework for reasonable and acceptable patient care and should be interpreted as such to allow for some degree of flexibility in different circumstances.

The delivery suite is a demanding place to work for all grades of anesthetists. You have to be ready to give anaesthesia at very short notice, occasionally without the opportunity to undertake a thorough anesthetic pre-assessment that you would usually perform.

The pressure to proceed with anesthesia particularly if there are fetal concerns can be very intense, but it is important to put the mother's wellbeing first at all times.

Most category 1 or ‘crash' Caesarean sections can be anticipated. The mothers have often been on the labor ward for some time. The key to success on the delivery suite is anticipating potentially challenging situations.