Practice of primary elective cesarean upon maternal request in the commonwealth of virginia.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the practice of on-demand elective cesarean delivery in Virginia.


METHODS
Cross-sectional.


METHODS
Hospital based.


METHODS
Nurse managers or labor and delivery charge nurses of all 55 hospitals in Virginia that provide obstetric services.


METHODS
Interviews were conducted with participants to obtain quantitative and qualitative data.


RESULTS
71.7% of hospitals reported that they would allow and have performed on-demand cesarean delivery. The prevalence of this practice did not vary substantially according to hospital size and type or characteristics of providers of obstetric care. The only criterion that all hospitals mandated before allowing on-demand cesarean delivery was that pregnancy must have completed 39 weeks of gestation.


CONCLUSIONS
The perception of labor and delivery managers in Virginia is that on-demand elective cesarean delivery is a patient-driven practice that does not appear to be influenced by hospital characteristics.
Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk, VA 23501-1980, USA. baydouha@evms.edu
Bunan
B
Alnaif
Hind
H
Beydoun
D002585:Cesarean Section / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003696:Delivery Rooms; D017558:Elective Surgical Procedures / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005260:Female; D005865:Gestational Age; D006761:Hospitals / Q000592:standards / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D057240:Patient Preference; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D011247:Pregnancy; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014768:Virginia