Disclosing suboptimal indications for emergency caesarean sections due to fetal distress and prolonged labor: a multicenter cross-sectional study at 12 public hospitals in Nepal.

As fetal heart rate monitoring and partograph are fundamental to diagnose fetal distress and prolonged labor, the inappropriate monitoring proceeding CS decisions disclosed in our study indicate that CSs were performed on suboptimal indications. We call for improved quality of intrapartum monitoring, enhanced documentation in medical records, and structured auditing of CS indications in order to curb the potentially harmful CS trend.