Low staffing in the maternity ward: Keep calm and call the surgeon.
This paper examines the relationship between workload and the quality of care provided in maternity wards, an area of healthcare that hasn't received much attention in research. I analyze detailed data about individual patients giving birth and take advantage of situations where patients are randomly assigned to different levels of staffing.
As workload increases, we see a corresponding rise in the likelihood of Caesarean section (C-section) deliveries. It appears that C-sections are utilized as a strategy to manage the workload of midwives, as they are faster to perform and can be carried out by physicians. Furthermore, I find that single women, who are often without a support person during childbirth, are particularly affected by high workload levels.
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