Seminar Presentation on Fetal Surveillance

1.1 Introduction

Fetal surveillance is a broad term that refers to a variety of non-invasive tests that may be administered during a pregnancy in order to evaluate whether or not a baby is thriving in utero. These tests are typically ordered by obstetricians for women who are experiencing high risk pregnancies, and they are an additional means by which to manage and monitor both the mother’s and baby’s health and well-being. Fetal surveillance tests are a series of assessments that monitor a pregnancy when certain medical conditions are present or complications arise. Factors that can lead to a pregnancy being considered as high risk are diabetes, high blood pressure, multiple gestation (twins or more), post-term pregnancies (when gestation goes beyond 42 weeks), or women with pre-existing health conditions or previous high risk pregnancies.

As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Limitations of the Study and Definition of technical terms.