ACOG Committee Opinion #295: pain relief during labor.

Pain management should be provided whenever medically indicated. The American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) believe that women requesting epidural analgesia during labor should not be deprived of this service based on their insurance or inadequate nursing participation in the management of regional analgesic modalities. Furthermore, in an effort to allow the maximum number of patients to benefit from neuraxial analgesia, ASA and ACOG believe that labor nurses should not be restricted from participating in the management of pain relief during labor.