Benefits of Nitrous Oxide for Pain Management During Labor

Nitrous oxide is widely used in the United States, but is still limited in our area. Nitrous oxide used during labor is a way for mothers to avoid adverse effects that other forms of pain management can cause. Nitrous oxide is used to increase pain tolerance for laboring mothers, and has also been proven to reduce anxiety. Nitrous oxide has limited adverse effects on the mother and no know adverse effects to the fetus. If a side effect is caused by nitrous oxide, the effects will wear off almost immediately after discontinuation of use. It also is more cost effective for the hospital as well as the patient. Nitrous oxide can be set up by nurses, which avoids the wait time seen with getting an anesthesiologist to get an epidural. This course of pain management is also patient regulated, which gives laboring mothers a sense of control as well as requires less monitoring time for nurses who have multiple patients. Overall, the addition of nitrous oxide to labor units across the area would be beneficial for both hospital and patients.