The Bishop score is a criterion for successful induction of labor, vaginal delivery and includes the age of gestation, parity, presenting part of the fetus, previous history of childbirths and consent of the patient. This score decides whether a patient needs cervical ripening or not 1,4.
Bishop scoring is performed with a digital cervical exam of a patient, ranging from 0 to 13 points 1,2.
On this page:
Contraindications
Contraindications of digital cervical examination include 1-3:
Criteria
Position of cervix
- posterior: 0 point
- middle: 1 point
- anterior: 2 point
Consistency
- firm: 0 point
- medium: 1 point
- soft: 2 point
Effacement
- 0-30%: 0 point
- 40-50%: 1 point
- 60-70%: 2 point
- >80%: 3 point
Cervical dilation
- closed: 0 point
- 1-2 cm: 1 point
- 3-4 cm: 2 point
- 5+ cm: 3 point
Station
- -3 : 0 point
- -2: 1 point
- -1: 2 point
- +1/+2: 3 point
+1 point for previous vaginal birth
-1 point for the first birth
Interpretation
- <3: suggests induction would not be successful
- <5: labor does not begin without induction
- >9: suggests labor will begin spontaneously