Conception of a Decisional Tool Using a Pre-Anesthesic Numerical Evaluation (PANE) During the 8th Month of Pregnancy

Every month, several thousands of women benefit from an obstetrical pre-anesthesic consultation (PAC) in France, during their 8th month of pregnancy. It is the opportunity to evaluate women's physical and biological conditions before their delivery.

This consultation is mandatory in France. It must be carried out by an anesthesist and should aim at proposing an analgesic and anesthesic strategies as well as relaying all the resulting information to the patients.

A study carried out in 2015 in two Parisian 3rd level maternity hospitals showed that the majority of women seen in obstetrical PAC are healthy. A preliminary observational, prospective and multicentric study in 20 Lorraine (France) maternity hospitals was implemented in order to identify more specifically the population of women seen during this consultation. Despite of a probable under-estimation, investigators' results showed 40,3% of women ASA 1, with a physiologic pregnancy, without hemostasis disorder and planned for a vaginal delivery.

With these healthy women, according to the recommendations of the French Society of Anesthesia and Intensive Care (SFAR) edited in 2012 and those of the French Health Authority (HAS) edited in 2016, the only obligatory biological exam for the anesthesic care is the 6th month blood count (with blood type and irregular antibodies).

Despite those recommendations, over-prescription of biological tests during the preoperative clinic in pre-partum persists (in the investigators' study, they found a probable under-estimated number of 34,5% unjustified prescriptions).

Moreover, the PAC aims at evaluating superior airways, for the purpose of a potential oro-tracheal cannulation in case of general anesthesia. However, this evaluation had a relative interest in this context considering that the superior airways anatomy changes during pregnancy and labor and all pregnant women must all be considered at risk of difficult intubation.

In addition, all pregnant women from 20 weeks of amenorrhea are considered as full stomach. Thus, in case of general anesthesia, the investigators have to perform a crash induction. So, there is no other protocol of induction to consider in this context.

Regardless of the context, pregnant women see an anesthesist before their delivery during the pre-anesthesic visit : the sooner 24 hours before an intervention, at the latest when they arrive in the delivery room.

Actually, society is faced with important problems of medical demography and anesthesists are less and less numerous, making their activity more and more difficult.

Investigators' hypothesis is that for the population of pregnant healthy women, an alternative pre-anesthesic evaluation, other than the classic 8th month PAC, could be an innovative idea for health system, ensuring care quality and security of pregnant women.

The investigators would create a new tool able to perform a women's triage, and to detect which of them have to see an anesthesist during a face-to-face consultation and which of them could do without it.

Those types of pre-anesthesic evaluations have already been tested in other countries. A controlled randomized study, executed in Australia between 2012 and 2013, showed the feasibility of a non "in-person" evaluation (by phone, with the aid of an informatic tool and a anesthesist proofreading). Considering these results, the investigators think that it is possible to transpose this type of evaluation to the obstetrical field.

Investigators' study will be about the monocentric analysis of a pre-anesthesic numerical evaluation with the aid of a questionnaire, vouched for by an experts committee specialized in obstetrical anesthesia.

Ultimately, investigators' ambition is to carry out a national multicentric study to analyze this tool on a larger scale.