"Tossing" fetal monitor strips

Elvish, BSN, DNP, RN, NP · Jul 6, 2008

I am not sure I would like that.

I like to have the original in my hand. We keep all our strips and think it isn't smart to do otherwise. Just my two cents.

Having said that, we all know that a good strip doesn't always equal a good baby nor does a bad strip always equal a bad baby.

nursejohio, ASN, RN · Jul 6, 2008

We've never kept our paper strips. We use QS also, and do all our charting in the computer on the strip. Charting is real time, while we're doing whatever interventions, so it's stored with the tracing. If they pull a chart for some reason after the fact, we can print the strip from the archives. I can't imagine keeping all the paper from some of the 3 day inductions we get!

That said, I do most of my charting from the paper... especially if mom has internals. I just think it's easier than scrolling back and forth in the stored strip

bagladyrn, RN · Jul 6, 2008

The records probably are safer in electronic form. I know of one facility that lost many years of fetal monitor records because the strips were stored in an unairconditioned warehouse. Heat sensitive paper plus high summer temps = years of strips black from end to end.

epiphany · Jul 6, 2008

Having said that, we all know that a good strip doesn't always equal a good baby nor does a bad strip always equal a bad baby.

I always thought different. A bad strip doesn't always equal a bad baby, but a good strip reassuring of a good baby. That's what I've always learnt in school and seminars.

Elvish, BSN, DNP, RN, NP · Jul 6, 2008

I always thought different. A bad strip doesn't always equal a bad baby, but a good strip reassuring of a good baby. That's what I've always learnt in school and seminars.

I guess I should have phrased that better....a good strip makes me feel good that baby is happy and tolerating whatever's going on in utero. But just because you have a good strip doesn't mean that once s/he is delivered there are not going to be issues.

nursejohio, ASN, RN · Jul 6, 2008

I always thought different. A bad strip doesn't always equal a bad baby, but a good strip reassuring of a good baby. That's what I've always learnt in school and seminars.

A good strip can reassure you that baby is tolerating things well, but it is not necessarily indicative of a *good*baby. A coworker had a decent strip with good variablity and accels... baby came out blue & floppy, APGARs 1-3-3. He never moved, never had reflexes. Scans showed that baby had most likely stroked at some point towards the end of pregnancy, but was able to maintain while still in utero. :crying2:

By the same token, I've seen horrendous strips with seriously ugly heart tones and baby comes out pink & screaming, get 8-9

epiphany · Jul 6, 2008

A good strip can reassure you that baby is tolerating things well, but it is not necessarily indicative of a *good*baby. A coworker had a decent strip with good variablity and accels... baby came out blue & floppy, APGARs 1-3-3. He never moved, never had reflexes. Scans showed that baby had most likely stroked at some point towards the end of pregnancy, but was able to maintain while still in utero.
By the same token, I've seen horrendous strips with seriously ugly heart tones and baby comes out pink & screaming, get 8-9

Yes, there are exceptions and no guarantees. But studies show that for the most part, a good strip is reassuring. That's the clinical guideline. I'm not surprised that some nurses might have a different experience. I have never seen a bad baby from a good strip, and my case in point is that YOU've not seen it yourself either. That's been the experience of most nurses in general.

As you said, you've seen horrendous strips with good outcome, but you coworker has that one incident.

More importantly, continuous monitoring had done nothing to change outcome except in detecting seizures, but the numbers show that you need to extensive monitoring to catch one case.

LDRNMOMMY, BSN, RN · Jul 6, 2008

At the hospital I worked at in the states, when we went live with OB TraceVue in 2006 we stopped running paper strips. The strips were recorded electronically. The only time we ran paper strips was during downtime.