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Background: The safety of vaginal breech birth depends on the expertise of birth attendants, yet the meaning of "expertise" remains unclear and subjectively defined. The objective of this study was to define expertise and the roles experts may play in expanding access to this service., Methods: We performed an integrative analysis of two strands of data concerning expertise in physiological breech birth, including the following: survey data from a Delphi study involving 26 very experienced clinicians (mean experience = 135 breech births) and 2 service user representatives, and interviews from a grounded theory study of 14 clinicians more moderately experienced with physiological methods (5-30 upright breech births). Data were pooled and analyzed using constant comparative methods., Results: Expertise is defined by its ongoing function, the generation of comparatively good outcomes, and confidence and competence among colleagues. Although clinical experience is important, expertise is developed and expressed in social clinical roles, which expand as experience grows: clinician, mentor, specialist, and expert. To develop expertise within a service, clinicians who have an interest in breech birth should be supported to perform these roles within specialist teams., Conclusions: Specialist breech teams may facilitate the development of expertise within maternity care settings. Evaluation of expertise based on enablement of women and colleagues, as well as outcomes, will potentially avoid the pitfalls of alienation produced by some forms of specialist authority., (© 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Background: Breech presentation affects 3-4% of pregnancies at term and malpresentation is the primary indication for 10-15% of cesarean deliveries. External cephalic version is an effective intervention that can decrease the need for cesarean delivery; however, timely identification of breech presentation is required. We hypothesized that women with a fetus in a breech presentation that is diagnosed after 38 weeks' estimated gestational age have a decreased likelihood of external cephalic version attempted and an increased likelihood of cesarean delivery., Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study. A chart review was performed for 251 women with breech presentation at term presenting to our tertiary referral university hospital for external cephalic version, cesarean for breech presentation, or vaginal breech delivery., Results: Vaginal delivery was significantly more likely (31.1% vs 12.5%; P<.01) in women with breech presentation diagnosed before 38 weeks' estimated gestational age as external cephalic version was offered, and subsequently attempted in a greater proportion of women diagnosed before 38 weeks. External cephalic version was more successful when performed by physicians with greater procedural volume during the 3.5 year period of the study (59.1% for providers performing at least 10 procedures vs 31.3% if performing fewer than 10 procedures, P<.01)., Conclusions: Results support the need for interventions to increase timely diagnosis of breech presentation as well as improved patient counseling and use of experienced providers for external cephalic version., (© 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Background: External cephalic version (ECV) reduces the chance of breech presentation at term birth and lowers the chance of a cesarean delivery. ECV services are now in place in many units in the United Kingdom but their effectiveness is unknown. The aim of this study was to investigate the reasons for breech presentation at term birth., Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort study of 394 consecutive babies who were in breech presentation at term birth in a large United Kingdom maternity unit that offers ECV. The cohort was analyzed over two time periods 10 years apart: 1998-1999 and 2008-2009., Results: Only 33.8 percent of women had undergone a (failed) ECV attempt. This low proportion was mainly because breech presentation was not diagnosed antenatally (27.9%). Other contributing factors were: ECV not offered by clinicians (12.2%), ECV declined by women (14%), and contraindications to ECV (10.7%). Over the 10-year period, the proportion of breech presentations that were not diagnosed antenatally increased from 23.2 to 32.5 percent (p = 0.04), which constituted 52.8 percent of women who had not undergone an ECV attempt in 2008-2009. Failure of clinicians to offer ECV reduced from 21.6 to 3.0 percent (p = 0.0001) and the proportion of women declining ECV decreased from 19.1 to 9.0 percent (p = 0.005). Overall, ECV attempts increased from 28.9 to 38.5 percent (p = 0.05)., Conclusions: Although ECV counseling, referral, and attempt rates have increased, failure to detect breech presentation antenatally is the principal barrier to successful ECV. Improved breech detection would have a greater impact than methods to increase ECV success rates., (© 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)