Question

A nurse is measuring the frequency of a laboring womans contractions. How does the nurse accomplish this correctly?

A. Counts the number of contractions measured at the same intensity in 1 full minute
B. Feels the fundus during the acme of the contraction and notes the fundal firmness
C. Measures the beginning of one contraction to the beginning of the next contraction
D. Measures the time from the beginning of one contraction to the end of the same contraction

Answer 1

To measure the frequency of a laboring woman's contractions, a nurse should record the time from the beginning of one contraction to the beginning of the next, which gives the most accurate reflection of contraction frequency.

Step-by-step explanation:

To correctly measure the frequency of a laboring woman's contractions, a nurse should choose option C: Measures the beginning of one contraction to the beginning of the next contraction. This method accurately reflects the frequency of contractions, which is an important factor to monitor during labor. Counting the number of contractions of the same intensity within one minute can be helpful but does not give information about the frequency. Feeling the fundus during the acme of the contraction and noting the fundal firmness (option B) helps assess contraction strength, not frequency. And finally, measuring from the beginning of one contraction to the end of the same contraction (option D) gives the duration of a single contraction, which is another critical, but separate, metric.