Letter from Chicago: Jet lag science.

decision to give further narcotics the drugs may well be given too late to have any effect on the mother, although if given slightly earlier, and if delivery does occur within the next one to two hours, the baby may be affected and the start of his respiration impaired. For patients who are progressing rapidly in labour after induction and who can be expected to deliver within two to three hours from the time of induction a totally satisfactory form of analgesia does not appear to be available. The use of a relatively new form of analgesia, transcutaneous nerve stimulation,x may be of value in this situation, and we are currently evaluating this method. It is interesting to note that six patients in the two-to-six hour group received no analgesia other than premedication and considered this quite adequate.