Complications in obstetric anesthesia: nursing's role to anticipate, recognize, and respond.

Anesthetic complications require immediate recognition and intervention. With the many options and high anesthesia rates among laboring women, today's perinatal nurses need education not only in the choices of anesthesia but also in the complications that can result from these choices. Most orientation programs briefly discuss the subject, leaving the amount of information and training insufficient for the nurses to feel confident in their understanding of the complications and competent to respond.