Vibroacoustic stimulation and nursing intervention in the nonstress test.

A study was designed to evaluate the nursing time required for performing the nonstress test and the characteristics of such a test induced by spontaneous fetal movement or vibroacoustic stimulation. One hundred eleven patients underwent a total of 245 nonstress tests. The time required to perform each test was 15.6 +/- 1.0 minutes with vibroacoustic stimulation and 16.6 +/- 3.8 minutes with no vibroacoustic stimulation; however, tests conducted without vibroacoustic stimulation extended up to 37 minutes, while those with vibroacoustic stimulation were all completed within 19 minutes. The duration and amplitude of fetal heart rate accelerations were greater for patients who received vibroacoustic stimulation than for patients who did not.