RE: Anaesthesia whilst pregnant

Susan Jackson — Thu, 03 Nov 2016 20:57:44 GMT

I was the same when I got pregnant but the practice was very good. They did a risk assessment including making me wear a dose meter for the day just to check the exposure and it was fine. The highest risk area is in kennels but the dose meter didn't pick anything up and I could smell it on occasion.

Congratulations

RE: Anaesthesia whilst pregnant

Susanna Taylor — Tue, 01 Nov 2016 15:03:59 GMT

I also researched this a lot when i was pregnant as I was working in anaesthesia 100% at the time.

My conclusion is that it really comes down to your personal decision. There is not really that much evidence either way - I mean whos going to volunteer for this to be studied?! The highest risk is probably in the first trimester (as with everything...) which makes things difficult if you are trying to keep the news quiet. By the time people start worrying about it on your behalf, you're probably well out of the risky period anyway.

The only NSH guidelines I found for human anesthetists, was more worried about long working hours and long periods standing up, then exposure. I took some comfort from this!

Overall, I personally felt the risk was really very low as long as I avoided obvious exposure like masks etc. I am always very cautious about secure airways anyway, and not turning on the iso until this was checked, and I always kept patients intubated and attached to o2/scavenging until the last moment. I also was aware that I worked in well ventilated areas and used active scavenging, also lowering the risk. Yearly iso exposure checks always came back very low too. I didnt do any filling of Iso vaps, but otherwise carried on as pretty much normal.

On the other hand, Ive worked with nurses that stopped doing anything in theatre at all, and some that left the room for indiction/moving/recovery. You really have to decide for yourself what your comfortable with.

-this is my personal view BTW, nothing to do with the AVA-