[Emergency caesarean sections in primary care maternity: Impact of a color code]

To estimate the impact of the introduction of color code on the decision to birth-delay (DDB) used to prioritize the emergency caesarean sections in a primary care maternity.

All patients who had an emergency caesarean section, for a single fetus, were included. The obstetrician, the anesthesiologist and the nurse of operating theatre were not on call in the maternity in nighttime. The study was divided into phase I corresponding to the period before the introduction of the color code and phase II, the period after introduction of the color code. The DDB was studied for each phase and for each color code in phase II, and depending on the day or night period.

Two hundred and seventy-six patients were included. In phase I, the average DDB was 54minutes against 44minutes in phase II (P=0.0003). The average time between the decision and caesarean birth for the green code was 62minutes, 42minutes for orange code, 22minutes for red code (P<0.001). There was no action on the time of caesarean decision on the choice of color code. There was no time difference between daytime and nighttime either in phases I or II.

The introduction of color code for emergency caesarean sections was a benefit in reducing the DDB. There was no observed difference between day or night periods regarding DDB or color codes.