Abstract
The objective of this research is to determine how the two fetal heart rate measurementmethods, intermittent ausculation (AUS) and electric fetal monitoring (EFM), differ in theireffects on midwives' monitoring activities.
A checklist prepared by the author was used in observation of monitoring women in laborconducted by 16 midwives at a private hospital in Tokyo. This checklist regarded each 30-minutes observation period as one “scene”. Data for 33 AUS scenes and 34 EFM sceneswere used in comparative analysis.
All 16 midwives engarged in both types of fetal heart rate measurement. No differencewere recognized among the midwives in their years of experience, the number of times theyconducted monitoring or the amounts of contact they had with the women in labor.
Among the results of analysis, it was found that with EFM it was more common forpalpation examination to not coincide with contractons, there was less frequency of askingthe women in labor about their feeling or desires and the number of directions given by the midwives increased. Also, with EFM, internal examinations were conducted with greaterfrequency and in the area of care, there was less frequency of back massage and changingthe position of the women in labor, while the women themselves had less freedom to assume their desired positions.
