Clinical Practice Guidelines For The Management Of Women With Decreased Fetal Movements (dfm)

Background:The management of women who present with decreased fetalmovements (DFM), varies widely. The aims of this guideline are to assistclinicians in providing consistent best-practice management for womenwith DFM, and to enhance consistency of information provided to women.Method:The NHMRC guidelines for developing clinical practice guidelineswere adopted to compile this guideline. Guideline recommendations wereprepared with strength of recommendation grading by a multidisciplinaryworking group of ANZSA. In conjunction with the guideline, an infor-mation flyer for women was also developed.Results:Fifteen recommendations for fetal movement monitoring andmanagement of DFM were developed. However, due to insufficient evi-dence, the practice recommendations are largely consensus based. Whilethe routine use of formal kick counting using kick-charts is not recom-mended, the guideline raises the importance of women’s and clinician’sawareness of the importance of DFM as a marker for pregnancies at in-creased risk.Conclusions:While it is hoped this guideline will assist clinicians inproviding consistent information to women and will improve outcomes byraising awareness about the importance of maternal perception of DFM,further well-designed studies are needed to ensure women are providedwith appropriate information and clinical care in relation to fetal move-ment monitoring and DFM