A study on personal mode of delivery among Chinese obstetrician-gynecologists, midwives and nurses.

BACKGROUND

Medical staff, especially those working in the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, have been considered to mostly influence pregnant women on the decision making of delivery mode.

OBJECTIVE

To investigate mode of delivery among Chinese female obstetrician-gynecologists, midwives and nurses and to explore reasons why they choose cesarean section (CS) for themselves and their advice on mode of delivery.

METHODS

Questionnaires including demographic characteristics, their mode of delivery and the reason as well as their suggestion when consulted by pregnant women were administered to 293 participants.

RESULTS

69.7 % was the overall CS rate and 49.0 % without any medical indications. The main reasons for CS were safety for both fetus and mother, easier and quicker labor, fear of injury to the fetus in vaginal delivery (VD), worrying about various unpredicted risk problems in VD and disbelief of VD skills. Those who had experienced CS were more likely to agree with the maternal request for CS or even gave a suggestion straightly for CS.

CONCLUSIONS

There is a high rate of CS among Chinese medical staff working in the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics. Future efforts to reduce the national CS rate would focus on the delivery practice of medical staff, modification of national policies including the one-child policy and promotion of VD skills.