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Abstract
Training healthcare providers to recognize fetal heart patterns and correlations with contractions or other conditions within the womb is a crucial and complex task. Currently, there are only two methods available to provide hands-on learning with the Electronic Fetal Monitoring (EFM) in real-time fetal monitoring: one is in the clinical setting with live patients, and the other is to use high fidelity maternal manikins. Both have limitations which hinder the learning effectiveness and experience. In this study, we design and develop an EFM App, an educational healthcare technology designed to simulate an EFM, which not only enables the simulation of an obstetric case using standardized patient actors, but also provides learners and instructors live interpretation of EFM strips without exorbitant costs.
Keywords
Simulation; Electronic Fetal Monitoring (EFM); Obstetric training; Mobile App
1. Introduction
Electronic Fetal Monitoring (EFM) is commonly described as a window to the womb and is the most predictive tool to assess the well-being of a fetus during the labor and birth process. It is comprised of two transducers worn by laboring women: one interprets the fetal heart rate while the second records the intensity and duration of contractions. EFM traces the fetus' heart rate response to uterine contractions or contractions of the muscles in the uterus. Series of such contractions help push the fetus through the birth canal but can be stressful to the unborn child. The fetus' heart rate accelerates and decelerates as a response to the contraction pattern and is indicative of the well-being of the child and the amount of oxygen the fetus is receiving from the mother's blood stream. These fluctuations and patterns, commonly denoted as reassuring or non-reassuring patterns, are key diagnostic tools during labor and birth or the intrapartum period. The goals of EFM are to identify and differentiate the patterns and intervene when the fetal heart rate (FHR) patterns indicate fetal compromise. Nursing care of the fetus and mother during the intrapartum period includes promoting adequate fetal oxygenation and associated interventions for non-reassuring patterns if they occur.
Training healthcare providers to recognize fetal heart patterns and correlations with contractions or other conditions within the womb is a crucial and complex task, and there is an ever-growing need for such professionals. Currently, there are...