Women's Health Exam Practice Questions and Detailed Answers with Rationale

The patient is admitted in early labor. Her support person tells the nurse that the contractions have the following pattern: started 1232, ended 1233; started 1235, ended 1236; started 1239, ended 1240; started 1243, ended 1244. From this information, the nurse determines that the frequency of the contractions is? A. every 3 to 4 minutes. B. every 2 to 3 minutes. C. lasting a minute. D. unable to be determined with this information. A. every 3 to 4 minutes. The frequency of a contraction is measured from the beginning of one contraction until the beginning of the next contraction. The contractions started at 1232, 1235, 1239, and 1243. This would put the contractions every 3 to 4 minutes. The duration of the contractions is from the beginning of a contraction until the end of the same contraction. The duration for this pattern would be 1 minute. Upon completion of a vaginal examination on a laboring woman, the nurse records: 50%, 6 cm, ?2-1. Which one of the following is a correct interpretation of the data? A. Fetal presenting part is 1 cm above the ischial spines. B. Effacement is 4 cm from completion. C. Dilation is 50% completed. D. Fetus has passed through the ischial spines. A. Fetal presenting part is 1 cm above the ischial spines. A station of ?2-1 indicates that the fetal presenting part is above the ischial spines and has not yet passed through the pelvic inlet. A station of 0 would indicate that the presenting part has passed through the inlet and is at the level of the ischial spines or is engaged. Passage through the ischial spines with internal rotation would be indicated by a plus station, such as +1. Progress of effacement is referred to by percentages, with 100% indicating full effacement, and dilation by centimeters (cm), with 10 cm indicating full dilation. The midwife records that the patient's cervix is "100%, 5 cm." The nurse understands that the patient's cervix is A. completely dilated and effaced. B. completely dilated and half-effaced. C. completely effaced and half-dilated. D. half-dilated and half-effaced. C. completely effaced and half-dilated. Effacement is measured in percentages. The fully thinned cervix is 100% effaced. The dilation is measured in centimeters; dilation goes from closed to 10 cm. This patient is completely effaced and halfway dilated