Fetal Heart Rate 5-tier

About

This app is intended for obstetricians, midwives, and nurses who use electronic fetal monitoring (EFM) in laboring patients. In addition to interpreting fetal heart rate (FHR) tracings, health care professionals must communicate with each other about the tracings in a way that is understood by all parties, and decide what action to take. FHR 5-tier is based on the five-color system developed by Drs. Julian Parer and Tomoaki Ikeda. (AJOG July 2007) The intent of their system is to standardize management of different fetal heart rate tracings. The system divides all fetal heart rate tracings into one of five categories: Green (no acidemia, no intervention required), Blue, Yellow, Orange or Red (evidence of actual or impending fetal asphyxia, rapid delivery recommended). Each color has assigned to it a: a) risk of acidemia, b) risk of evolution to a more serious pattern and c) recommended action. The NICHD three-tier system of classifying fetal heart rate (FHR) tracings has been criticized for having too wide a range of tracings in “Category II”. Some researchers and clinicians believe that the five-tier color-coded system more effectively classifies EFM tracings. The five-tier system is being adopted by an increasing number of hospitals in the U.S. and in Japan. FHR 5-tier makes it easier to use the five-color system. Without the FHR 5-tier app, one must refer to a table with 134 possible combinations of variability, baseline, and decelerations. One must also eithe