A Team Approach to Reduce Primary Cesarean Deliveries at a Community Hospital

As Cesarean Section has become the most common surgical procedure performed on women, a reduction in its use has become a national and local concern. A community hospital and private OB/CNM practice collaborated to standardize physiologic birth parameters to reduce their primary Cesarean Section rate. Interventions included reducing elective inductions prior to 41 weeks gestation, admitting patients in active labor, using intermittent auscultation until continuous fetal monitoring is indicated and providing primary C-Section rates to individual providers on a monthly basis. Within 5 months our clinic monthly average Cesarean Delivery rates decreased from 34.8% (March 2014-March 2015) to 12.8% (April 2015-August 2015).