Briefly Legal: The Classification of Fetal Heart Rate Patterns, Time for a Change?

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Barry S. Schifrin, MD; Maureen Sims, MD

Introduction:

In 1964, long before the introduction of fetal monitoring, John Pratt, in an article entitled “Strong Inference,” asked why certain systematic methods of scientific thinking may produce much more rapid progress than others. He thought several scientificspecialties progressed rapidly while others, including medicine, progressed much more slowly. (1)

In a contemporary article on Clinical Quality Measures in Obstetrics, the authors trace the limited results of numerous efforts to enhance the quality of obstetrical care, including the withdrawal of many indicators of quality once considered necessary. None of the indicators involved the response to FHR patterns. (2)

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Disclosures: There are no reported disclosures

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