Patient Experiences of Intraoperative Discomfort During Cesarean Delivery Under Neuraxial Anesthesia

During a cesarean delivery done under spinal or epidural anesthesia, many patients notice sensations they weren't expecting things like pressure, pulling, tugging, or nausea even though the anesthesia blocks pain. These sensations can be distressing, and research suggests that difficult experiences during surgery may raise the risk of anxiety or post-traumatic stress after childbirth.

Right now, there's no dedicated tool for asking patients about these experiences during the procedure, which makes it hard for care teams to recognize, measure, or address them. This study is the first step toward building such a tool, called the Intraoperative Comfort Assessment Tool (ICAT). Researchers will interview 20 to 30 patients who recently had a cesarean delivery under spinal or epidural anesthesia at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, asking them, in their own words, about what they felt during surgery. The interviews explore what different sensations felt like, how patients tell the difference between pressure, discomfort, and pain, and which symptoms bothered them most. By listening closely to how patients naturally describe their experiences, the team will identify common words and themes to build a more accurate, patient-centered questionnaire. Eventually, this tool could help anesthesiologists notice and respond to discomfort in real time during surgery, and give researchers a standard way to measure and improve the childbirth experience.