Electronic Fetal Monitoring Flashcards
What 2 things will you look at on the fetal monitoring strip?
- fetal HEART RATE (baby)
2. UTERINE contractions (mom)
What are the 2 types of fetal monitors?
- EXTERNAL= little doppler transducers with stretchy straps.
- INTERNAL= fetal scalp electrode (FSE) placed on the baby’s scalp by going in through the mother’s cervix.
When do you use internal fetal heart monitors?
- if pt is very obese, or you can’t pick up the fetal heart beat using the external monitor.
What is a potential risk of placing an internal fetal monitor?
- infection
What is electronic fetal monitoring (EFM)?
- cardiotocography (aka cardiography + uterine contractions (tocodynamometer)
Is the top line or bottom line the fetal heart rate?
TOP LINE
What tells us the variability of the baby’s heart rate on the fetal heart strip?
- the “squiggliness” of the line, indicating sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system activities working together.
- aka you want VARIABILITY
*** What is the normal range or fetal heart rate?
110-160 BPM
- less than 110= bradycardia.
- greater than 160=tachycardia.
Where is the contraction pattern on the fetal monitor strip?
- bottom line that looks like mountain peaks.
What are the units for contractions?
- MONTEVIDEO UNITS= calculated by subtracting the baseline uterine pressure from the peak contraction pressure for each contraction in a 10-min window and adding the pressures generated by each contraction.
Ex. 5 pressure changes of 52, 50, 47, 44, and 49 mm Hg are added together= 242 Montevideo units.
*greater than 200 indicates adequate contractions!
Why do we care if the contractions are high enough?
- to get her fully dilated so she can start to push.
Why do we use electronic fetal heart monitors?
- to determine if a fetus is well oxygenated. Hypoxia changes activity of the nervous system, which affects HR and will result in changes on EFM.
How is EFM described?
- baseline HR
- variability
- presence or absence of accelerations and decelerations.
- frequency of contractions.
What actually makes up the irregular horizontal line of the fetal heart rate monitor?
- it’s just a series of closely-spaced R to R waves in the fetal EKG.
How do you get the mean fetal HR?
- round to nearest 5 BPM during a 10 min segment.
** What are some causes of fetal BRADYcardia (less than 110 BPM)?
- maternal HYPOtension
- umbilical cord prolapse
- rapid fetal descent
- uterine tachysystole
- placental abruption
- uterine rupture
- myocardial conduction defect