Maternal Experience of Spinal Anesthesia for Cesarian Section, A Cross-Sectional Study

Background: Cesarian section, an increasingly popular obstetric procedure, can be performed under general and regional anesthesia. Spinal anesthesia, a form of regional anesthesia has gained popularity over time due to its overall safety.Objectives: To study the maternal experience after going through cesarian under spinal anesthesia.Material and Methods: This was a cross sectional study carried out on admitted patients in Lady Reading Hospital, MTI, Peshawar. About 196 post-op admitted patients were selected by non-probability convenience sampling from 1st November 2023 till 15th December 2023. They were assessed with the help of questionnaire on their experience of spinal anesthesia on 3rd post cesarian day. Patents having had surgery under general anesthesia, primarily or secondarily, and those who had any additional procedure post operatively after cesarian were excluded. Data was analyzed on SPSS v23. Frequency and percentages were determined for categorical variables. Chi square test was applied for categorical variables with p value of <0.05 taken significant.Results: Of 196 patients, mean age of the participants was 29 ± 6 years, of whom 74 (37%) had elective and 122 (63%) had emergency cesarian section. Parity ranged from 1 to 13, with most parturients having parity in the range of 1-6. 90% of patients were satisfied with preoperative information provided. About 55% had nausea, 15% had dyspnea while 39% (n=77) had palpitation during the surgery. Nearly 18% did not like the feeling of being aware intraoperatively. However 98% (n=193) of patients were satisfied with responsiveness of anesthesia staff to their situation. About 105 (53%) patients affirmed that would like to have spinal anesthesia again in future if needed, 39% were unsure and 14 (7%) patients did not like it.Conclusion: Spinal anesthesia is an effective way of providing surgical anesthesia while maintaining high level of maternal satisfaction.Keywords: Cesarian section, Maternal satisfaction, Spinal anesthesia.