What is an advantage of electronic fetal monitoring?
Advantages: Easy to find and accurately determine the fetal heart rate. The fetal heart rate is displayed on a digital screen. Comfortable for the mother and reassuring as she can hear her fetus’s heart.
What are the three categories of fetal heart rate tracings?
- Category I : Normal. The fetal heart rate tracing shows ALL of the following:
- Category II : Indeterminate. The fetal heart rate tracing shows ANY of the following:
- Category III: Abnormal. The fetal heart rate tracing shows EITHER of the following:
What is a Category 2 tracing?
The classification of Category II tracings includes the following: bradycardia with variability, tachycardia, minimal variability, no variability with no recurrent decelerations, marked variability, absence of induced accelerations even after fetal stimulation, recurrent variable decelerations with minimal or moderate …
What is a Category 3 tracing?
NICHD Category III (CIII) fetal heart rate tracing (FHR) is defined as having either sinusoidal pattern or absent baseline variability plus recurrent late decelerations, recurrent variable decelerations, or bradycardia.
Does EFM improve outcomes?
Randomized trials have found that EFM has contributed to an increase in the Cesarean rate, without making any improvements in cerebral palsy, Apgar scores, cord blood gases, admission to the neonatal intensive care unit, low-oxygen brain damage, or perinatal death (which includes stillbirth and newborn death).
What are the limitations of electronic fetal monitoring?
Risks and Limitations of External Fetal Monitoring The routine use of EFM is controversial in some hospitals. Some experts believe that routine EHF is unnecessary in low-risk pregnancies. EFM can limit your movement during labor. Studies have shown that freedom of movement in labor makes delivery easier for most women.
What are the 2 most important characteristics of the FHR *?
There are two features that should always be assessed: The baseline fetal heart rate. The presence or absence of decelerations: If present, the relation of the deceleration to the contraction must be determined. It is very important to compare the timing of the contraction to the timing of the deceleration.
What does FHR Category 1 mean?
Category I • Category I FHR tracings include all of the following: • Baseline rate: 110–160 beats per minute. • Baseline FHR variability: moderate. • Late or variable decelerations: absent. • Early decelerations: present or absent.
Is marked variability Category 2?
2008;112(3):661-666. Within the FHR tier system, category II remains the largest category of FHR with the greatest degree of uncertainty as it pertains to intrapartum well-being. One specific example of a category II feature with very limited research is marked variability in FHR patterns5-10.
What are decelerations in pregnancy?
Decelerations. Decelerations are temporary drops in the fetal heart rate. There are three basic types of decelerations: early decelerations, late decelerations, and variable decelerations. Early decelerations are generally normal and not concerning.
Is EFM safe?
Intermittent auscultation is a safe and acceptable fetal monitoring method that is recommended during labor with low-risk pregnancies. Continuous EFM is associated with many known medical risks to women, without providing any benefit to the fetus in low-risk pregnancies (Alfirevic, Devane, & Gyte, 2006; ACOG, 2009).
How is electronic fetal monitoring used in labor and delivery?
Electronic fetal monitoring (EFM) is a commonly used practice on labor and delivery (L&D) units and is a focus of this customizable bundle within the AHRQ Safety Program for Perinatal Care. The training materials and tool for this bundle offer key safety elements for the use of EFM.
What can you do with a fetal monitor cart?
Design the cart that can integrate your monitoring, charting and IT equipment on a mobile platform. Our full line of Fetal Monitor Carts are aesthetically attractive, and house a variety of medical monitoring systems. These units can be fully accessorized to suit clinicians’ needs.
Is there literature on fetal heart rate monitoring?
Fetal Heart Rate Monitoring. Since then, medical literature investigating EFM in clinical practice has proliferated. However, nursing literature on EFM is scant, although nurses are familiar with using EFM as a tool for assessing high-risk obstetric patients.
Where is St Luke’s Hospital using electronic fetal monitoring?
St. Luke’s Hospital in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Ms. Eganhouse is a member of NAACOG, the Great Plains Organization, Sigma Theta Tau. Although electronic fetal monitoring (EFM) has been widely used in clinical practice for more than two decades, educational standards and competency validation for EFM use in hospitals have been developed only recently.