Does counting each baby save babies lives?
Why did the Each Baby Counts program not made a difference?
CTG
Cardiotocograph monitoring
Fetal monitoring and cord clamping: What’s the link?
Professor Susan Bewley is a professor of obstetrics with an interest in a great many things. I first became aware of her work many years ago, when I saw her writing about the potential links between the timing of cord clamping, cord blood pH testing, fetal monitoring methods, and perinatal outcomes. Susan recently challenged me to summarise the issues in a blog post – so here we go! Setting the […]
Comparing continuous CTG use with intermittent CTG use
In some settings, women are offered the option of having intermittent CTG use rather than continuous CTG use. This might look something like having 20 to 30 minutes of CTG use every hour or two, with intermittent auscultation used during the time off the CTG. A first look, this seems like it might be a way to reduce some of the downsides associated with CTG use (like the increased rate […]
Tending to the machine: Women’s experiences of fetal monitoring in labour
Last week I posted about a literature review that summarised 47 years of research about women’s experiences of labour. The same research team responsible for that paper, has also just recently published new Australian research (Fox et al., 2024) describing women’s current experiences with fetal monitoring in labour. The paper has been published in an open access journal, so you are able to read the full paper yourself. If you […]
What is CTG monitoring like?
Much of the focus in research about fetal monitoring in labour has been on outcomes for the fetus / baby. Not as much has looked at women’s outcomes, and even less has looked at what women say about their experiences with CTG monitoring. But there has been some research, and a team of researchers recently pulled it all together in the one place (Murray et al., 2024). Murray and colleagues […]
Reducing anxiety during antenatal CTG monitoring
CTG monitoring during pregnancy is called non-stress testing in some parts of the world. This is to distinguish it from stress testing, where low doses of oxytocin or nipple stimulation are used to provoke contractions so the way the fetal heart rate responds to contractions can be observed. The term non-stress testing is rather ironic however, as there is a body of evidence showing higher levels of anxiety in women […]
Just try harder, then it will work! An allegorical tale.
A tall tale about Chris and his attempts to make his daily commute safer. (But it’s actually about CTG monitoring….)
Education isn’t the solution
When there’s a string of poor outcomes in a maternity service, and issues around fetal heart rate monitoring in labour are found to part of the problem, what invariably happens next is a recommendation for more and better education. It seems logical to believe that people who know more about the indications for CTG monitoring, how to interpret fetal heart rate patterns, and how and when to intervene in labour […]
High risk obstetrics and high risk women: a wee rant about language
“High risk” is a term that gets tossed around a lot in maternity services. Have you ever stopped to think about what is being hidden under the surface when it is used?
Birth Small Talk 