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

  • Maternal-Fetal Medicine
  • Published:
Archives of Gynecology and Obstetrics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

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.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Dr. Jie Hu, an associate professor of University of North Carolina at Greensboro School of Nursing, USA, for her kind and professional assistance with the manuscript. We are especially grateful to all who participated in this study. This study could not have been possible without their assistance.

Conflict of interest

None.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Wuhan University HOPE School of Nursing, Wuhan, 430071, China

    Yan Qiong Ouyang & Qing Zhang

Authors
  1. Yan Qiong Ouyang
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  2. Qing Zhang
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Correspondence to Yan Qiong Ouyang.

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Ouyang, Y.Q., Zhang, Q. A study on personal mode of delivery among Chinese obstetrician-gynecologists, midwives and nurses. Arch Gynecol Obstet 287, 37–41 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00404-012-2517-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00404-012-2517-x

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