Table 2.

Issues of availability and functionality of electronic fetal monitoring equipment

Category	Problem	Consequence
Technical features	Difficulties in getting and keeping a good signal	Midwives holding the electrode in place (thus diverting resources from other tasks), or asking the mother to keep the electrode in place (limiting her movements)
	Wireless monitors picking up signals from other monitors	Risk of inaccurate appreciation of the situation
	Electrode battery not lasting long enough	Time-consuming efforts to find alternatives, risk of delays in monitoring
	Showing up mother’s heart rate instead of fetus’s	Risk of inaccurate appreciation of the situation
Human-machine interface	Inadvertently change printing speed	Risk of misinterpreting the trace
	Inadvertently switching off the monitor	Loss of time and data
	Different grids on screen and on paper	Risk of misinterpreting the trace
Supplies	Missing parts (eg, leads for fetal scalp electrodes)	Time-consuming efforts to find alternatives, risk of delays in monitoring
	Missing consumables (eg, paper)	Time-consuming efforts to find consumables, risk of delays in monitoring
Procurement	Different machines in a unit printing in different colours or scales	Risk of misinterpreting the trace
	Insufficient number of monitors	Time-consuming efforts to find equipment, risk of delays in monitoring
Maintenance and set-up	Paper jamming	Loss of time and data, delays or interruption to monitoring
	Wrong time or date	Wrong timeline when reviewing the trace
Physical layout	Bulky monitors in small rooms	Cramped workspaces