Electronic Fetal Heart Rate Monitoring: A Primer for the Critical Care Nurse

Fetal assessment is an essential component of nursing care for a pregnant woman who is critically ill. If the fetus has reached the gestational age for which electronic fetal monitoring (EFM) is possible, Intermittent or continuous fetal assessment with EFM may be used. Most nurses who specialize in adult intensive care nursing do not have the education or clinical experience to Interpret EFM data. Collaboration with perinatal care providers is necessary to insure that fetal assessments-are timely and accurate and that nursing interventions based on the data are appropriate. When perinatal providers participate as members of the team caring for critically III pregnant women, terminology and physiologic parameters may be used that are not standard or routinely used in the ICU setting. The physiologic and hemodynamic changes that occur during pregnancy add another dimension to the nursing care required. This article reviews common terms used to describe fetal status and appropriate nursing interventions used in caring for the critically ill pregnant woman