Assessment of an intervention program that tends to decrease number of cesareans Evaluación de un programa de intervención tendiente a disminuir el número de cesáreas

Abstract

Introduction. In Chile, the estimated cesarean section rate is 40%, much more than that recommended by the WHO (< 15%). The medical audit cycle is one of the strategies performed to reduce cesarean section rates. The objective of this study was to compare the effect of the introduction of medical audit cycle between two periods: 1997-2002 and 2003-2005. Study design. The audit analysis was conducted using the Robson et al. model, prospectively assigning patients to one of the categories mentioned by him by a data base in the File Maker 5.0 between 2003-2005. These results were compared with the 1997-2002 period, using the Chi square test (p < 0.05). Results. In the group of all women and nulliparous, there was no significant difference between the two periods. A significant increase in the cesarean rate was observed in multiparous women (38.1%-42.4%, p < 0.007) and the group of women primarily responsible for this were those with scarred uterus (70.1-81.2%, p < 0.01) and singleton, cep