Women Experiences of Spinal Anaesthesia During Caesarean Delivery in Enugu, Southeast, Nigeria

摘要

Improvements in Spinal Anaesthesia (SA) have made the procedure the anaesthesia of choice for caesarean delivery. To assess the effectiveness of SA in relieving pain during caesarean delivery; the associated complications and patient’s satisfaction with the procedure. Two hundred and forty six (246) patients who had caesarean delivery under SA in ESUTHP, Enugu from May 1, 2011 to April 30, 2012 were studied with structured questionnaires. Using the 0 to 10 comparative pain scale; there was no pain in 16.26% of the patients, minor pain in 69.10%; moderate pain in 13.82% and severe pain in 0.81%. Post-spinal headache (42.23%), lower limb numbness (48.80%), nausea and vomiting (7.31%), shivering (9.76%) and back pain (19.51%) were the common complications experienced by the patients. Over 80.00% of the patients were satisfied SA, 208 (84.55%) will accept SA in. future surgeries and 77.24% will recommend SA to friends. Being awake during surgery was the greatest source of satisfaction in 95% of the patients. About 90.5% of patients who had previous caesarean delivery under general anaesthesia now preferred SA to general anaesthesia. Spinal anaesthesia is safe, simple and the preferred anaesthesia for caesarean delivery.