If you’re about to give birth for the first time, you might notice an increased effort to prevent you from delivering by cesarean section.
That’s because standards to help decrease unnecessary interventions in childbirth ““ especially among first-time moms-to-be ““ that have long been hallmarks of midwifery care also now are increasingly recognized by the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), as well as the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM), the governing body for high-risk pregnancy specialists.
“There is now a strong push (no pun intended) to recognize and support normal, uninterrupted physiologic birth, including allowing women more time in labor,” said Christy Ganshirt, a certified nurse midwife with St. Elizabeth. “All governing bodies are trying hard to decrease the C-section rate, especially for nulliparous women (“first timers”), as this then impacts their chances for repeat C-sections and short- and long-term complications.”
According to the American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM), one-third of women in the United States deliver by C-section and more than half of women receive medication to start or speed up their labors.
The ACNM acknowledges that some women and babies have complications that require interventions, but maintains that the use of technology and interventions during childbirth are not proven to benefit healthy women and babies. In fact, states the ACNM, they can cause unnecessary risks.
Now, not only are the ACOG and SMFM adopting and promoting these standards but so are insurance companies and, more importantly, hospital credentialing organizations such as The Joint Commission.
Insurance companies and the JCAHO are setting benchmarks that include a significantly lower primary C-section rate than is currently seen nationwide or at St. Elizabeth, Ganshirt said.
“The doctors in our practice are certainly all in for lowering their own C-section rates and do incorporate many of the same practices into the management of their patients,” she said. “C-section rates are published every month in our hospital, so it is being looked at very closely.”
