A review of opioid-induced itching after cesarean birth.

Currently, about one-third of all women giving birth have a cesarean surgical birth, and the majority are given an epidural or spinal anesthetic containing an opioid for surgery. An unpleasant side effect experienced by many of these women is itching. This article reviews the literature on itching after spinal and epidural administration of opioids and how nurses can best manage this side effect.

An updated review of of evidence to discourage douching.

Purpose: To review current studies on vaginal douching.

Data Sources: MEDLINE PubMed, CINAHL, and Cochrane databases from 2002 to 2008 using MeSh terms "vaginal AND irrigation or vaginal and douching" from 2002 to 2003 and "vaginal douching" and "vaginal douching and adverse effects" from 2004 to 2008.

Study Selection: MEDLINE PubMed included 156 records, CINAHL 15, and Cochrane 10.

Vaginal douching among university women in the southeastern United States.

Objective: The authors assessed the knowledge, beliefs about, and practices of vaginal douching among women attending 2 universities in the southeastern United States.

Participants: There were 416 participants in this study; 46.9% were black and 44.

Vaginal douching practices of women in eight Florida panhandle counties.

Objective: To document knowledge, beliefs, douching practices, prevalence of bacterial vaginosis, and preterm births in women who douche.

Design: Descriptive, cross-sectional nonexperimental design.

Setting: Six private midwifery/nurse practitioner offices and eight county health departments in the Florida panhandle.

Maternal bacterial vaginosis and fetal/infant mortality in eight Florida counties, 1999 to 2000.

This study determined the prevalence of maternal bacterial vaginosis (BV) in fetal/infant mortality cases and factors associated with BV. A retrospective descriptive study was utilized. Data were obtained from review of vital statistics and medical records of 176 women experiencing fetal/infant deaths in eight Florida counties, 1999 to 2000.

Vaginal douching.

Objective: To review current literature on vaginal douching.

Data Sources: MEDLINE, CINAHL, and Cochrane databases from 1997 to 2001, using keywords douche or douching; 2001 Web sites of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; and Internet search engines for information about current retail sales of douches.

Study Selection: MEDUNE included 67 records, CINAHL 18, and Cochrane 2.