The fetal monitoring guidelines are all about the recommendations and the appropriate assessment of the fetal well being as well how to use and apply the fetal monitors. These fetal monitoring guidelines are solely based on clinical evidences on the usage of fetal monitors and the application of fetal heart monitoring. Most parents, especially the mother can greatly benefit on the information provided by fetal monitoring guidelines. The fetal monitoring guidelines are important for health care professionals and health care providers because these fetal monitoring guidelines can help them in their work but these fetal monitoring guidelines cannot change their knowledge and skills. These fetal monitoring guidelines are just a guide in performing fetal monitors and electronic fetal monitoring.
The fetal monitoring guidelines have been created and systematically developed with its purpose and goal to assist health care professionals, health care providers and patients in decision making regarding on the appropriate treatment of specific fetal and maternal diseases and conditions. One must understand that the parameters and principles of these fetal monitoring guidelines are for guidance only. Health care professionals and providers involved in fetal and maternal care must employ their skills and knowledge when applying the recommendations to the management of patients. It is expected that these fetal monitoring guidelines developed by Guideline Development Group will be used as the basis for the development of local procedures or fetal monitoring guidelines. There are several methods used in formulating and developing these fetal monitoring guidelines. The first method tackles on the topic areas of fetal monitoring. The Guideline Development Group created a significant pathway to identify and evaluate the connections of electronic fetal monitoring and the health outcomes that the electronic fetal monitoring might influence. Through the acquisition of this, specific clinical questions were developed with regard to the development fetal monitoring guidelines. The second method used in developing fetal monitoring guidelines is the literature search strategy. Here, literature review was employed to identify relevant evidences with the published literature, in order to answer various related clinical questions. As a result, possible evidences used in the development of fetal monitoring guidelines are based on the recommendations of clinical practice. The third method which is being employed in developing the fetal monitoring guidelines is the review of the related literature. Here, a preliminary evaluation of the titles and abstracts was undertaken and full papers were obtained to see if the research questions that are being addressed by the Guideline Development Group are relevant to the topic. Subsequently, after a critical review of the full version of the study, the articles and questions that are not relevant to the subject are being excluded as well as the studies that do not report on relevant outcomes.
The third method that is important in developing fetal monitoring guidelines is synthesizing the evidence. The identified articles were evaluated methodologically and the best available evidence was used to form and support the recommendations. The evidence with the highest level are chosen and selected for each clinical question. All the articles that were retrieved were reviewed deliberately using appropriate and established guides and by using qualitative methods, the evidence was synthesized. These involved summarizing the content of identified papers in table form. The next method in developing the fetal monitoring guidelines is forming and grading the recommendations. The Guideline Development Group was presented with the best research evidence to answer their questions. From these, the recommendations for clinical practice were derived using consensus methods. The recommendations were based on the evidence that supported them. Using this method, the recommendations were graded by the Guideline Development Group. The final method used in developing the fetal monitoring guidelines is the scopes and methods of the peer review process. The drafts of the fetal monitoring guidelines are being reviewed, rewritten and discussed by the Guideline Development Group and a formal peer review process is assumed. Representatives from various health organizations can work as the reviewers and these draft guidelines are being sent to them with a request for evaluation and comment. Then, the comments made by the peer reviewers are gathered and presented secretly for consideration by the Guideline Development Group. The development of fetal monitoring guidelines was made possible by the support in funding of the Department of Health and the National Institute for Clinical Excellence. The fetal monitoring guidelines were developed by different professionals and various health institutes and organizations. One of the primary goals of these fetal monitoring guidelines is to evaluate the impact of intrapartum electronic fetal monitoring on fetal and maternal outcomes and to develop standards for the use of electronic fetal monitoring.
Moreover, the fetal monitoring guidelines are being created and published to make recommendations for clinicians on when it is appropriate to use electronic fetal monitoring in women during labor or delivery. These fetal monitoring guidelines are being developed to suit the intrapartum care settings. The fetal monitoring guidelines are intended for health care providers and health professionals, who share the common skills and knowledge in caring for pregnant women and infants. The Guideline development Group aims to disseminate these fetal monitoring guidelines by producing many copy of it. The fetal monitoring guidelines have been formed in both full and summary formats and consumer version. The fetal monitoring guidelines are also produced and published in hard copy books and these fetal monitoring guidelines are available in specific bookshops. |
