WEARING OF MASKS FOR OBSTETRIC REGIONAL ANESTHESIA - A POSTAL SURVEY

A postal survey of 801 members of the Obstetric Anaesthetists Associat ion was carried out in the United Kingdom and Ireland to investigate t he use of surgical facemasks whilst performing spinal and epidural blo cks. Two hundred and twenty three out of 539 respondents (41.3%) routi nely wore masks for both spinals and epidurals; 22 (4.1%) wore masks o nly for epidurals; 21 (3.9%) wore masks only for spinals and 273 (50.6 %) did not wear masks for either spinals or epidurals. Fifty out of 24 0 (21%) of those who routinely wore masks did not believe that wearing a mask reduced the risk of infection. Only 83 out of 259 (32%)mask we arers changed their masks between cases.