Fetal Monitoring Class Development

[KellyLynn]

I am a very seasoned Ob RN with 24 years experience but not a formal nurse educator. I have been given the daunting task of developing a fetal monitor strip interpretation class. Our facility is under strict budget constraints. They have had me certified in Fetal Monitoring. I have my class objectives prepared and am now developing my course content. My problem at this time is obtaining fetal monitoring strips without crossing any copyright infringements. Does anyone know of some sources for these, that would allow me to copy or purhaps do a SLM, or a power point demo?

Is there a program that already exists that wouldn't cost an arm and a leg for the staff?

Thankyou for your time.

Kelly

[VickyRN, MSN, DNP, RN]

I teach fetal monitoring for my senior ADN class. We're one of the few undergraduate nursing schools around our area that still teaches fetal monitoring. Copyright infringement is very difficult to understand. We had a librarian with a PhD visit our community college and she gave a 6-hour seminar on copyright infringement. To this day, I still can't tell you what she said. Since we are an educational institution, we have some (albeit very unclear) exemptions. When I pull fetal monitoring strips off of the internet, I try to put the URL underneath. Do you have any strips at your institution you could use to show accels, late decels, etc? As long as you black out the patient's name, those strips belong to your institution and this is perfectly legal. If you choose to use Powerpoint, you can use a scanner to incorporate them into your Powerpoint presentation.

I use Powerpoint with my presentation and use a scanner, also insert strips from internet sites. PM me your address and I will be glad to send you a copy of my PP lecture on CD for you to use as a reference. :)

[rnmi2004]

We were taught fetal monitoring interpretation in my last theory class. Some of the strips we saw were from the hospital where our OB rotation is at (no identifying information, of course). That particular hospital keeps an electronic record of the monitoring, so the paper strip isn't a part of the legal record. Would this be a possibility for your program?