Telephone transmission of fetal heart rate monitor data. The experience at the University of Connecticut Health Center.

This report reviews the experience at the University of Connecticut Health Center using the Fetal Assessment Consultative Transmission Service (FACTS) system during a 2 1/2-year period. This system, which permits direct transmission of antepartum and/or intrapartum fetal heart rate tracings via a telephone line, allows the obstetric staffs of smaller community hospitals to obtain an immediate consultation from the University of Connecticut Health Center on a 24 hour per day basis. A total of 511 fetal heart rate tracings were analyzed. Two hundred forty-five were intrapartum, 206 antepartum, and 60 were transmitted for educational purposes. The results indicate an imperative need for such a service from a tertiary care center to improve the quality of regional perinatal care and to determine the future direction of the regional educational program for physicians and nurses.