Electronic fetal monitoring

Currently, recommendations regarding the marginal value of electronic fetal monitoring (EFM) to the standard practice management of the patient in labor must be couched in qualifications regarding both patient tolerance for risk and health team uncertainty about practice guidelines for intermittent auscultation during pregnancy. If stresses on a maternity unit's manpower prevent strict registered nurse or nurse mid-wife compliance with an auscultatory monitoring program, then EFM may make both quality and health outcomes sense. If, on the other hand, the unit employs stringent patient care quality monitoring guidelines, then a course of intermittent auscultation may make both safety and cost-effectiveness sense.