Comparison between US health care and health care in Italy - Essay Example

Running head: Comparison Between US Health Care and Health Care in Italy Comparison between US Health Care and Health Care in Italy In APA Format Abstract United States of America and Italy are two very different countries; the major differences are in culture of the people living in these countries. There are major differences in how doctors in these countries deal with pain management. This paper will throw light upon how the doctors in these countries deal with pain management, the main focus of this paper will be upon the pain management process during child birth in these countries.

The process of child birth is the most beautiful process and thoroughly enjoyed and cherished for the parents. Every precious thing comes at a hefty price, the hefty price is the pain suffered by the mother in this whole process. The mother undergoes the experience of tremendous pain in this whole process of giving birth. This paper is going to examine the methods adopted by the doctors to handle the pain which is suffered during the whole process. These methods will be examined as they are carried out in two countries namely, methods in Italy and methods in United States of America.

"Peridural anesthesia is an effective technique for providing analgesia during labor and delivery. The fact that it is not at all widely used in Italy can be ascribed to the lack of technical knowledge among health-care providers and the lack of information available to pregnant women." (Epidural Analgesia, 4 October 2008). Peridural anesthesia's main function is to reduce the pain which occurs during childbirth, in order to perform surgeries the doctors inject Peridural anesthesia in the spinal column with the help of a needle or a tube in a patient.

The same reduces the pain significantly and it is used in many countries. "Epidural anesthesia is an attractive alternative to general anesthesia for a person who has medical complications that might make it difficult to tolerate or recover from general anesthesia." (Epidural Anesthesia, 3 October 2008) Italy is an exceptional country and does not follow the technique of regional anesthesia during childbirth and the method is almost obscure in the southern parts of the country. Most of the surgeons in Italy consider general option over regional anesthesia, they firmly believe in the notion that general anesthesia is relatively much safer than regional anesthesia.

It is believed by many surgeons in Italy who handle the case of childbirth that the use epidural anesthesia gives rise to neurological complications. This perception of the surgeons in Italy is challenged by many, "According to Koll (1) out of 1541 reports of injury following anesthesia, more than half of the 227 cases of neurological damage were related to general anesthesia. In another survey conducted by INSERM (France), 19 accidents (6 of which were fatal) were reported, accounting for 0.

43% of 4430 administrations of spinal anesthesia. In this last survey approximately 70% of the patients were elderly and therefore, presented a higher risk of complications. A survey in our hospital reveals 2 non-fatal accidents related to 6690 administrations of spinal anesthesia. Therefore, the rate of complications for spinal anesthesia in our hospital is 0.02%. These data show that the number of serious complications related to spinal techniques is not higher than that of general anesthesia.

" (Epidural Analgesia, 4 October 2008). There are various risks involved in the use of Peridural anesthesia, when anesthesia is used on a patient who has never been examined before, the anesthetic risk in that particular case rises to alarming high levels on the contrary it is found that the patient whose blood reports are taken and when the same anesthesia is used on that patient, the risk reduces to a great extent. Many Italian doctors believe that analgesia need not be used in the process of childbirth.

Analgesia is another drug which reduces the labor pain significantly in a patient. Doctors believe that the pain suffered without the use of this drug is very normal. The worst part in this case is that when a child is born, after so much pain suffered by the mother, she can't even see her new born baby. Conclusion In USA the most popular method of childbirth is epidural anesthesia, it is considered by many as one of the most effective ways to relieve pain during childbirth. There is a flaw in following this method; it leaves a woman unable to push her unborn child and in this case it becomes necessary to use the procedure of forceps deliveries.

Epidural procedure is the most widely used by the women in United States of America. On the other hand Epidural anesthesia is very rarely used in Italy because it is believed that the women in Italy don't have the awareness about this method which helps immensely in relieving the pain; another reason is that the women in Italy are not very familiar with this method because very few women know about this. To conclude it is fair to say that the Italian women don't use epidural anesthesia during childbirth which is considered by many as the best in US, there is no doubt that epidural anesthesia brings down the level of pain during childbirth but at the same time its cost is much higher than that of any other methods used during the same process.

References Epidural Analgesia. In Anestit. Retrieved on 3 October 2008 from: http://anestit.unipa.it/osting.htm Epidural Anesthesia. In Discovery Hospital. Retrieved on 3 October 2008 from: http://uimc.discoveryhospital.com/main.phpid=2949