Background: Epidural analgesia (EA) is effective in providing postoperative pain relief, but has potential complications. An audit was carried out to measure the knowledge, skills and adherence to protocols of nurses deemed competent to care for patients receiving EA.
Method: This audit assessed the recording of observations, staff practices and knowledge against the trust's policy for EA care.
Results: All observation charts examined (n = 16) were incomplete. Nurses (n = 9) scored a mean of 24.4 out of a possible 28 points in the observational assessment. Six (66%) questionnaires were returned. The nurses scored a mean of 75% on the questionnaires.
Conclusion: The results from the audit should be viewed with caution as the amount of data collected was small, but suggest there is a need for changes to the protocol for epidural observations and the associated teaching programme. Further results that can be more easily generalised.