The influence of practice management on primary cesarean birth

As the cesarean delivery rate has increased to once unimaginable levels, obstetricians should question the loss of our credibility. Older mothers, obesity, larger birth weights, too many twins, and no more breech vaginal deliveries have all been cited as contributing factors to the increase in primary cesarean birth, but one cannot neglect the influence of physician practice style. Attempts to curtail or reverse the escalating incidence of primary abdominal deliveries should focus on caution with inductions of labor, patience with the management of arrest disorders, more accurate assessment of fetal compromise, patient education and informed decision making about the benefits/risks of operative delivery, and improvement in the medicolegal environment.