Effectiveness of Maternal Positions on Materno Foetal Physical and Physiological Parameters during Non-Stress Test among Antenatal Women in Tertiary Care Hospital of Gangtok, Sikkim

Introduction: A healthy newborn with a healthy mother is the fundamental objective of foetal surveillance. One of the important tests that is performed during pregnancy is the non-stress test (NST). The NST remains the main method for monitoring the foetus. In this study, expectant women at Gangtok's Tertiary Care Hospital in Sikkim have undergone non-stress test to determine the impact of different maternal positions on the physical and physiological characteristics of the mother and foetus. Methods: The study used an experimental approach with crossover research design. The position strategy was randomly assigned to the antenatal women between 34 and 40 weeks of gestation as sequence I, sequence II, or sequence III. Each position strategy included all three positions, and NST was carried out in accordance with the designated strategy. The study comprised 90 pregnant women who were in a labour room of a tertiary hospital in Gangtok. Results: The data showed that maternal pulse rate, respiratory rate, blood pressure and fetal heart rate, movement were statistically significant which means there were a varied difference between the maternal and foetal characteristics. The study also depicts that before the positioning, left lateral position had the highest level of no discomfort (81%) and after the positioning, left lateral had the highest level of no discomfort (17%), semi-Fowler's 38% had the highest level of severe discomfort. The comparison of post-test mean score between the positions and within the pre-test and post-test of mean score of the positions were p = 0.001 (p > 0.05) and 0.000 (p>0.05) respectively. Hence, the degree of comfort in the semi-Fowler's, supine, left lateral positions were statistically significant at the p0.05 level. Conclusion: The study revealed that both the mother and foetal parameters and the degree of discomfort of mother during Non-Stress Tests varied significantly depending on positions. The study comes to the conclusion that throughout the non-stress test, the left lateral posture was the most comfortable.