Teaching vaginal breech delivery and external cephalic version. A survey of faculty attitudes

To ascertain current faculty attitudes regarding teaching of vaginal breech delivery (VBD) and external cephalic version (ECV).

A questionnaire was sent to obstetrics and gynecology residency programs. Respondents were queried regarding demographic parameters, resident and practice experience, and attitudes toward teaching these procedures.

Fifty-four (96%) surveys were returned. Sixteen (30%) respondents were female and 38 (70%) male. Sixteen (30%) completed residency prior to 1980, 17 (32%) during the 1980s and 21 (48%) during the 1990s. Nineteen (35%) trained locally. Forty-seven (87%) received training in VBD during residency. Thirty-five (65%) received training in ECV. Thirty-two (60%) had performed VBDs in practice. However, only 18 (33%) continued to perform this procedure. During the proceeding three years, they reported performing an average of five VBDs per chief resident per year. Thirty-seven (69%) performed ECV in clinical practice. The 17 who did not indicated that they referred to others. They reported performing an average of 15 ECVs per chief resident per year. Fifty-two (96%) thought residents should still be taught VBD. All faculty thought that residents should be taught ECV. None of the above parameters exerted a statistically significant effect on these opinions.

There was nearly universal faculty support for continuing to teach VBD to residents. However, only one-third of faculty members currently perform this procedure. There do not appear to be sufficient numbers of VBDs to teach this procedure utilizing a "hands on" approach. There is universal support for teaching ECV. There appear to be both enough individuals with experience and enough procedures to accomplish this education.