Influence of fetal monitoring on patients' perceptions of nursing support during labor

The influence of fetal monitoring on patients' perceptions of the nursing support they received during their labors was investigated in this study. The 151 subjects were selected at one general hospital in an effort to control for such variates as nurse staffing, medical staffing and hospital policies. Cf the total number of subjects, 102 were electronically monitored during labor and 49 were not monitored. Both groups consisted of multiparae and primiparae and all had uncomplicated deliveries and postpartum hospital recovery periods. The hypothesis proposed that the fetal monitor would influence patients' perceptions of the nursing support they received during their labors. A review of the literature revealed a paucity of reports of studies done on nursing support during labor and none reported the influence of fetal monitoring and support. No instruments for measuring nursing support had been developed, indeed a common definition of the concept was not to be found in the literature. For the purpose of this investigation then, a questionnaire was designed by the investigator in consultation with members of the nurse-midwifery and nursing research staffs of the College cf Nursing, University of Utah. The questionnaire was administered to the subjects 24 to 48 hours after delivery. Group I was comprised of 102 postpartum women who had been electronically monitored during labor and Group II of 49 postpartum women who had not been monitored. Computation of Z tests of the demographic data and one-way analysis of variance (ANOYA) of the questionnaire items revealed no statistically significant differences between the two groups. However,some interesting clinical questions were raised by trends found in the data analyses. Recommendations for further investigation are included.