The History of Cesarean Birth From 1900 to 2016

Nurses struggle with conflicting priorities regarding the care of women during childbirth and the expectations of physicians and employers. Nurses are expected to perform technologically sophisticated interventions that were once performed by physicians, which can affect the perception of comfort that nurses traditionally offered. In this historical overview, I suggest that scientific childbirth advances have contributed to soaring cesarean rates and identify the role of the nurse as a contributor to this trend.