Obstetric Anesthesia

At the University of Utah Hospital, highly skilled obstetricians, midwives, nurses, and anesthesiologists work as a team to create a safe, comfortable and family friendly birth experience for mothers and newborns. University of Utah Health's labor & delivery floor is recognized as a Center of Excellence by the Society for Obstetric Anesthesia and Perinatology. Our unit manages approximately 4000 deliveries per year and has three operating rooms. Two of the operating rooms have direct connections to the newborn intensive care unit. This allows the obstetricians to send newborns directly to the NICU should they need specialized care at birth.

The labor and delivery floor has a dedicated obstetric anesthesia team comprised of board certified physician anesthesiologists and anesthesia resident physicians. This team is immediately available for the labor and delivery floor, 24 hours a day to provide labor pain relief, anesthesia for cesarean deliveries, anesthesia for postpartum tubal ligations and cerclage placements, as well as emergency situations. In addition to epidural labor pain relief, we also offer other pain relief options including inhaled nitrous oxide.

The obstetric anesthesia team routinely cares for high-risk pregnancies including those complicated by cardiac disease, bleeding disorders, pre-eclampsia, and placental abnormalities. We welcome women with high-risk pregnancies or anesthesia related concerns and questions to our obstetric anesthesia consultation clinic. Outside of the labor and delivery floor our obstetric anesthesia team manages anesthesia for fetal interventions and non-obstetric procedures/surgeries during pregnancy.