How to Read a Fetal Monitor During Labor | 合法醫療器材資訊網

Learnaboutthehistoryandapplicationofelectronicfetalmonitoring.Fetalmonitoringcanbedoneexternallyorinternally.

Fetal monitoring, in one form or another, has been around for a long time—over 350 years, in fact. Prior to the 1970s, a healthcare provider (usually a doctor, nurse, or midwife) would use a stethoscope designed for pregnancy (fetoscope) to listen to the heart sounds (auscultation) of a fetus.

The technology for electronic fetal monitoring arrived in the 1960s and 1970s but had to undergo reliability testing before hospitals and clinics started to use it. Electronic fetal monitors provided a graph (on a paper printout at first, and later, on a computer screen) that showed how a fetuss heart rate responded to contractions.

Fetal monitoring is one way your provider can monitor how well your baby is coping with labor[1].