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Healthy first-time mothers experience differences in labor management by health professional

In a retrospective study of births at an academic medical center between 2005 and 2012, researchers supported by NINR and other organizations examined over 3,000 low-risk full-term births by first-time mothers. They found distinct differences between the births overseen by obstetricians and nurse-midwives. First time mothers were found to have more unplanned caesarean sections and labor interventions, including oxytocin use, regional anesthesia use, and delivery with the use of forceps or vacuum, when treated by an obstetrician versus a nurse-midwife. Understanding the differences in labor management style between different groups of clinicians is essential to helping lower caesarean rates among first-time, low risk mothers and improve outcomes for the mothers and their offspring.

Carlson NS, Corwin EJ, Hernandez TL, Holt E, Lowe NK, Hurt KJ. Association between provider type and cesarean birth in healthy nulliparous laboring women: A retrospective cohort study. Birth. 2018 Jan 31. PMID: 29388247