| A Menu of Change Promoting Comfort in Labor
 The Joint Commission requires appropriate assessment and management of pain in hospitalized patients, however it does not dictate which assessment tools or pain management methods should be used.1 Maternity care professionals may struggle to support the full range of comfort and pain relief options, including both pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic options, in settings where pain assessment tools designed for non-maternity patients are used.2 Use of assessment tools and pain management approaches specific to labor pain have helped some settings better meet women’s expectations and needs for comfort in labor.2 The ACNM Reducing Primary Cesareans Project Bundle to Promote Comfort in Labor provides specific action steps that encourage evidence based use of pain management and comfort measure approaches that support labor progress and coping with labor pain. Additional information about helping mothers cope with labor pain, including access to nutrition and hydration during labor can be found on the following pages:
Click to view additional resources available in the Promoting Comfort in Labor Resource Toolbox, or search our resource library by clicking here.
ReferencesLowe, N. K. (2002). The nature of labor pain.American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology,186 (5 Suppl Nature), S16-24. Roberts, L., Gulliver, B., Fisher, J., & Cloyes, K. G. (2010). The coping with labor algorithm: An alternate pain assessment tool for the laboring woman. Journal of Midwifery & Women's Health, 55 (2), 107-116. doi:10.1016/j.jmwh.2009.11.002; 10.1016/j.jmwh.2009.11.002
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