EVALUATION OF "˜DECISION TO DELIVERY INTERVAL' AND CAUSES OF DELAY IN EMERGENCY CAESAREAN SECTIONS IN A TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate decision to delivery interval in emergency caesarean
sections performed in tertiary care hospital and to evaluate the factors caus -ing delay.
Methodology: This cross sectional observational study was conducted in De -partment of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, B unit, Lady Reading Hospital from 1
st

march 2014 till 31
st
august 2014. All emergency caesarean section category
A (requiring delivery within 30 min from decision to delivery ) were included
and time taken from decision to delivery was noted, in cases where there was
delay, the reason was highlighted. Elective caesarean sections and those not
requiring urgent caesarean sections were excluded from study. Descriptive
statistics were used to analyze the data and results were expressed in per -centages.
Results: Total 102 patients were enrolled in this study, in 35.96% (n=41) there
was no delay , in 21.05% (n=24) delay was due to non availability of operat-ing table (it was already occupied), delay in arrangement of medicine led to
delay in 13.15% (n=15) patients, non-availability of basic investigation (blood
group, HBS/HCV) were responsible for delay in 10.52% (n=12) of cases, cross
matched blood arrangement was delaying factor in 7% (n=8) of patients, in
1.75% (n=2) of patients delaying in shifting was found .Regarding indications
for caesarian section, the commonest indication was fetal distress (n=25,
24.5%) followed by obstructed labour (n=21, 20.5%).
Conclusion: caesarean section within 30 minutes is possible, ensuring med-icine availability and increasing the number of operating tables available for
surgery will lead to drastic improvement in achieving our goal.