Resource Library

Members of WFSA's Obstetric anaesthesia committee and experts in obstetrics anaesthesia from around the globe, offers an important contribution to improve patient care and access to safe peripartum care.

Failed tracheal intubation is more common in the obstetric population despite widespread adoption of failed intubation drills and equipment advances. This tutorial provides a practical approach to safe obstetric airway management and the actions to take when problems arise including...

Accidental Awareness during General Anaesthesia (AAGA) has been demonstrated to be more common in obstetric practice than in any other area of anaesthesia. Factors contributing to this increased risk include maternal stress or anxiety, emergency surgery and the “intravenous-inhalational” interval....

This tutorial covers the neuraxial analgesia/anaesthesia-related complications and their management in obstetric patients. Complications are divided into four main categories including neurological, cardiovascular, drug related and miscellaneous. This tutorial includes up-to-date recommendations related to neuraxial blocks.

Intraoperative cell salvage in obstetrics is a safe adjunct or alternative treatment to allogenic blood transfusions during a postpartum hemorrhage. This tutorial will describe how the cell salvage circuit works and review the indications, contraindications, advantages, disadvantages and risks of...

The Maternal Early Warning Score (MEWS) is a system designed to help early detection of sick mothers and potentially allows the opportunity to intervene and prevent deterioration. This tutorial discusses the application of MEWS and the evidence behind its use.

Obstetric transfers represent a clinical and psychological challenge for the pre-hospital or retrieval clinician. This tutorial covers some basics of transfer decision making using case-based examples of common obstetric scenarios, alongside explanations of common obstetric emergencies.

This tutorial explains how to evaluate neuraxial anaesthesia in the obstetric patient. It details the complications of neuraxial anaesthesia and aids in the decision making process when to investigate further and the order of such investigations and their timing. The...