[Introducing a daily obstetric audit: A solution to reduce the cesarean section rate?]

To evaluate the impact of a medical audit assessing the accuracy of caesarean indications on the final caesarean section rate of an obstetrics department.

Comparative observational study conducted in a regional university teaching hospital on the two first quadrimester periods of 2013. During the first quadrimester, there was no cesarean section audit introduced for the daily reports meetings, while an audit was introduced during the second quadrimester. The caesarean rate and the instrumental delivery rate on both quadrimesters were compared.

In the first quadrimester period, there were 248 caesarean sections for 947 deliveries (26.2%), while in the second quadrimester period, there were 246 for 1033 deliveries (23.8%), P=0.014. The emergency caesarean rate decreased from 19.6 to 16.7%, P=0.02 in the second quadrimester period while the instrumental delivery rate increased from 14.4 to 17.2%, P=0.0004. Mothers and children's health was not modified between the two periods.

In our experience, the introduction of a daily obstetric audit of the caesarean indications is effective to decrease the emergency caesarean section rate and it encourages us to be active in the first like in the second part of the labor.