Intermittent Auscultation: Listening to Evidence and Expanding Safe Options for Physiologic Birth

Part 1 Session Title
Intermittent Auscultation: Listening to Evidence and Expanding Safe Options for
Physiologic Birth
Part 2 Session Length and Pharmacology Minutes (if any)
The one-hour educational webinar includes 1 contact hour of instruction. There are no
pharmacology minutes included.
Part 3 Teaching/Delivery Methods
The webinar will include 50 minutes of educational content and 10 minutes of Q&A
discussion.

Part 4 Learning Objectives
At the conclusion of this session, the learner will be able to:

1. Articulate the benefits of intermittent auscultation (IA) compared with continuous
electronic fetal monitoring (EFM)
2. Identify barriers and facilitators to implementing intermittent auscultation
in hospital settings
3. List effective strategies for introducing and strengthening intermittent auscultation
for low-risk labor
Part 5 Content Outline of Session(s)
1. Introduction: Why listen when you can look? (objective 1)
1. Evidence for intermittent auscultation
2. How IA supports efforts to reduce the cesarean rate
3. Improving safety and reducing risk with IA
4. Why do providers typically rely on EFM?
2. Barriers and Facilitators (objective 2)
1. Patient care factors
2. Workforce factors
3. Environmental factors
4. Structural factors
3. Best Practices for Introducing and Improving IA Practice (objective 3)
1. Introducing IA where EFM is dominant
2. Strengthening IA where it is already happening
3. Common best practices