Essentials of Fetal Monitoring

This comprehensive guide to fetal monitoring, now in its fourth edition, provides an exhaustive compilation of up-to-date knowledge on the signs of fetal well-being and compromise obtained from FHR monitoring. Newly revised and updated, it features two new chapters on monitoring maternal heart rate patterns and legal issues involved in care, new fetal monitor "strips," and updated visual materials, references and resources. This book is an invaluable companion for labor and delivery nurses, nurse midwives, and maternal-child and family nurses.

• Covers systematic assessment of the pregnant patient
• Addresses external and internal fetal and maternal monitoring
• Includes a step-by-step guide to fetal monitoring equipment and procedures
• Contains detailed reproductions of actual fetal monitor tracings
• Clarifies differences between maternal and fetal heart rate patterns
• Includes NICHD definitions as alternative terminology for documentation
• Identifies ineffective actions that can delay timely interventions
• Sets forth legal issues
• Provides skill-testing exercises

This hands-on workbook, designed for long-term and frequent use, is of value for any nurse currently working in a labor and delivery setting as well as those entering the field.