Expectations versus hospital reality in women undergoing elective caesarean section

Each expectant mother comes into the hospital with some idea of how the delivery will proceed, including the c-section. These ideas, created on basis lay and professional opinions, can be dramatically different from the resulting reality. This work deals with the choice of anesthesia for planned c-section from the perspective of expectant mothers. The theoretical part of the work is devoted to current possibilities and trends in obstetric anaesthesia. It describes the types of anesthesia (local vs. total) from the perspective of medicine and from the perspective of mothers in preparation to this operational performance. The aim of the empirical part of the work is the comparison of preoperative expectations of expectant mothers with the resulting hospital reality. It was found out by the quantitative questionnaire method. The questionnaire is divided into two parts- the part before the c-section and the postoperative part. The aim of the work is the detection what information sources influence mothers ideas of the course of the operating, the influences for their decisions of the choice of anesthesia, and how the information is valid and objective. The data are treated in detail in the empirical part. The work also discussion in which the survey results are compared with the stated aims and claims..