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With numerous rural hospitals struggling to remain open, often the continuing education budget and the nurse educator position are the first thing slashed. This creates a problem for rural nurses and physicians to remain current on changes in obstetrical practice. The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Rural Hospital Program and ANGELS (Antenatal & Neonatal Guidelines, Education & Learning System) are partners to provide a seamless network of current obstetrical and neonatal clinical information to rural providers throughout Arkansas.

A team of nurses, who are all AWHONN Fetal Heart Monitoring Instructors, provide fetal heart monitoring education to obstetric providers throughout the state at a reduced rate or at no cost. The team provides current fetal heart monitoring education to nurses, physicians, residents, and advanced practice nurses throughout Arkansas.

The team provides education in multiple venues for providers:  teleconferencing, web-based instruction, and face-to-face.  The team provided 10 teleconferenced fetal heart monitoring (FHM) courses in 2009. They also provided five face-to-face courses in 2009. The fall of 2009, the team will pilot a new self-assessment section to the FHM web-based module. In addition to these courses, the team also educates the OB/GYN residents at UAMS, which ideally will one day practice in rural Arkansas.

Is it possible to educate every obstetric nurse and physician in Arkansas on the current fetal heart monitoring terminology? We cannot say for sure, but we are trying! The nurse FHM education team is using multiple venues so every obstetric health care provider in Arkansas to speak the same fetal heart monitoring language.