Overview
Introduction
Electronic fetal monitoring records the fetal heart rate and uterine activity so the team can judge how the fetus is tolerating labor.
Electronic fetal monitoring records the fetal heart rate and uterine activity so the team can judge how the fetus is tolerating labor. It does not measure fetal oxygenation directly. Oxygen must move through the maternal circulation, placenta, umbilical cord, and fetal circulation; interruption anywhere along that pathway can change the fetal heart rate pattern. The useful question is not whether a tracing looks busy or alarming. It is whether the baseline, variability, accelerations, decelerations, contraction pattern, and maternal condition fit together over time. In the United States, the NICHD three-tier system labels tracings Category I, II, or III. The LPN/LVN contributes focused observations and prompt communication within state law, employer policy, and required supervision; the license does not create one national authority to independently interpret every tracing.