OB Anesthesia:

The Division of Obstetric Anesthesiology is located on the fourth floor in the Women’s Birthing Center. Twenty-four hour, comprehensive anesthesiology services are provided for: 

• Labor and Delivery

• Scheduled and emergent cesarean sections

• Other obstetric surgical procedures including in-vitro fertilization, dilation and curettage, postpartum tubal ligations and cerclage

The obstetric anesthesia team includes both physicians and nurses who work closely with the woman in labor and obstetric care providers to discuss pain management options. The obstetric anesthesiologist faculty is an expert in patient management options for labor and delivery while ensuring their safety and well being of mother and baby. Other members of the multidisciplinary team include resident physicians, obstetric anesthesiology nurses, a pharmacist and research assistants.

The number of deliveries at the women’s Birthing Center has continued to increase annually over the past six years. Last year there were 3,000 deliveries. The obstetric anesthesiology team provided care to approximately 60-65% of these patients for various reasons.

The UMHS is one of the only hospitals with a clinical obstetric anesthesiology nurse team. These nurses assist the anesthesiologist in providing quality care to each woman in labor. They see all patients admitted to the birthing unit, prepare women in labor for epidural analgesia and maintain epidural analgesia. They are always available to answer questions. Since the implementation of this nursing team our patient satisfaction has been very high despite the increasing demands of clinical care.

The Division is under the direction of Dr. Linda Polley.

Dept. of Anesthesiology, Univ. of Michigan Medical School

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