Maternal satisfaction and acceptability of foetal electrocardiographic (STAN®) monitoring system

Abstract

In resource-limited organisation, such as the NHS, holistic approach to intrapartum care may sometimes feel difficult to achieve. However, with emphasis on women centred care and information sharing women are able to understand and comment on intrapartum monitoring systems.

A pilot exploratory investigation on pregnant women’s views regarding STan fetal monitoring technology

“…The finding that participants perceived STan monitoring as an improved fetal monitoring method, but mainly for complicated pregnancies and/or in instances in which the unborn baby is compromised, was similarly reported in the previous study on women’s satisfaction of STan [ 13 ]. Pregnancy risk factors can be difficult to ascertain from labour outset and degree of both perceived and actual pregnancy risk may change [ 32 ].…”

“…This seems important given that some participants appeared to consider use of the scalp clip as a somewhat reluctant but acceptable trade-off in the pursuit of what they perceived as improved fetal outcomes. This nuanced perception does not appear to be captured in existing literature on STan monitoring [ 13 ]. This, in turn, can speak to the need for care providers to consider women’s views towards their care, rather than make assumptions, when determining approaches to care delivery [ 4 ].…”

“…Participants from the Maternal Fetal Medicine Clinic and Antenatal Clinic expressed trust in their doctors’ recommendation for labour management. These analyses may, with reference to the literature, reflect the possible influences of the maternity care service provided to women at the time, as well as information and guidance provided by maternity caregivers on women’s views towards intrapartum care provided to them [ 13 , 19 , 36 ].…”

“…We have identified one quantitative study that has investigated women’s retrospective self-reported satisfaction with STan monitoring in a U.K. hospital, in which the majority of women viewed STan as an acceptable intrapartum intervention [ 13 ]. While such studies can be useful in evaluating services, they may have limited ability to identify the factors that can shape women’s views about aspects of their care [ 4 , 14 , 15 ].…”

The use of STAN monitoring in the labour ward

“…STAN has been shown to reduce the number of operative deliveries for fetal distress (Kale et al 2008), reduce the need for FBS (Vayssière et al 2007) and also reduce the incidence of neonatal metabolic acidosis in a clinical setting (Norén et al 2006). Intra-partum fetal surveillance with STAN is also acceptable for patients (Parisaei et al 2009) and medical staff (Rault et al 2008). Computer analysis of the fetal ECG has the potential to reduce subjective errors that occur with traditional intra-partum fetal monitoring.…”