Number of deliveries performed during family practice residency training

We conducted a study of family practice residency programs to investigate the number of deliveries performed by residents during training.

A one-page questionnaire was mailed to family practice residency program directors, requesting an estimate of the number of deliveries performed by each resident. In addition, information on residency characteristics was taken from the American Academy of Family Physicians Directory of Family Practice Residency Programs.

Responses were received from 316 programs, for a response rate of 70%. Residency directors estimated that residents did a mean of 18 continuity and 24.5 obstetrics block month deliveries. On the average, residents delivered 93.9 babies in 3 years of residency. The number of continuity deliveries was related to location of the program and type of program. Total deliveries related to the presence of a competing obstetrics program, faculty who were doing their own deliveries, location of the program, and number of required months of obstetrics. On multivariate analysis, only the latter two variables predicted the number of total deliveries.

Family practice residents deliver an average of 94 babies in 3 years of residency training. Programs that want to increase deliveries can best do so by increasing the number of required months of training.