Pain Relief During Childbirth in the Context of 50 Years of Social and Technological Change.

Pain relief during childbirth continues to stimulate controversy as new treatments emerge and continuing interventions in the birth process invoke concerns about safety, technologic imperatives, and informed consent. In this historical commentary, I identify a complex dissonance between scientific advances and women's needs and expectations regarding childbirth. Evidence-based practice became the standard during the last 50 years and has reinforced a more conservative and parsimonious use of technology to respond to women's needs for pain relief. In reviewing this history, it is apparent that pain relief during labor is inextricably linked to interventions. Nurses can advance evidence-based practice and facilitate robust informed consent as they support women during childbirth.

An Early History of Anesthesia in Labor.

Fear of pain often overshadows childbirth, and each woman must decide whether to receive anesthesia to combat labor pain. Historically, this choice resulted in unintended consequences and marked the beginnings of medical interventions in labor and birth. The purpose of this article is to trace the use of anesthesia in childbirth from the mid-19th to the mid-20th centuries and to explore its influence on childbearing women and nurses.

The "white plague" and color: children, race, and tuberculosis in Virginia 1900-1935.

Drawing on a wealth of primary documents, this historical research describes nurses' efforts regarding early 20th century pediatric tuberculosis care in Virginia. Virginia nurses played a leadership role in designing a template for children's care. Ultimately, however, their legacy is a mixed one. They helped forge a system funded by a complicated, poorly coordinated, race- and class-based mix of public and private support that is now delivered through an idiosyncratic web of community, state, and federal programs. However, they also took courageous action, and their efforts improved the lives of many children. By so doing, they helped invent pediatric nursing.

Alfred Fröhlich and his correspondence with Sir Ronald Ross.

An outline is given of the career of Alfred Fröhlich, and his correspondence with Sir Ronald Ross between 1901 and 1912 is described in detail.