Resources
CDC-NCHS PowerPoint Presentation: The New Birth Certificate: Making Vital Statistics More Vital
North Carolina Birth Certificate - New Version
Facility Worksheet for the Live Birth Certificate - can be modified for your site
(Thank you to Catawba Valley Medical Center for sharing the condensed worksheet developed by their birth registrar.)
Birth Certificate Worksheet
Chart:
Clinical questions included on the 2003 standard US birth certificate,
comparison to previous version of the birth certificate
Fall 2010: The new birth certificate rolls out in North Carolina
By January 1, 2011, all North Carolina birth facilities, local health departments and registrars of deeds will be using a new version of the birth certificate. The CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics, in conjunction with an expert panel, developed the 2003 revisions of the U.S. Standard Vital Certificates, which two-thirds of states are now using. For more information from the CDC/National Center for Health Statistics about the new birth certificate, please visit the National Vital Statistics System’s 2003 Revisions webpage.
The new birth certificate includes changes to the Mother’s Information section, such as updated race categories, and information about mother’s and father’s educational level. However, the majority of the changes are in the section containing “information for medical and health use only,” which is where we obtain much of the perinatal health data used both at the state and national level, as well as in the PeriStats website supported by the March of Dimes. The old birth certificate contained 43 questions while the new version includes 61 items. The majority of the new data to be collected is clinical information about the mother and baby.
PQCNC is partnering with the N.C. Vital Records, part of the DHHS Division of Public Health, to encourage birth facilities in North Carolina to identify strategies to ensure completeness and accuracy of clinical data as the new birth certificate is implemented. Decisions made at both the state and national level are informed by birth certificate data, and this data is frequently used for academic research. Furthermore, accurate birth certificate data provides a wealth of information about the quality of perinatal care and can be used to target areas for future quality improvement initiatives.
For questions about PQCNC’s role in supporting NC Vital Records during the implementation of the new birth certificate, use the “Contact Us” button at the top of the page.
Strategies for collecting birth certificate data
The National Center for Health Statistics recommends the use of two worksheets to standardize the manner in which data is collected, the Mother’s Worksheet and the Facility Worksheet. Because birth registrars obtain data on the Mother’s worksheet directly from the mother and do not need access to specific information from medical records, PQCNC is not involved in helping hospitals gather this data.
The Facility Worksheet contains data from several sources, such as the prenatal record, the mother’s hospital record and the infant’s hospital record. The National Vital Statistics System created a handbook to guide birth registrars about the best place to find each item, as well as a detailed definition for each item. This handbook can be accessed here.
New approaches in which nurses collaborate with birth registrars may be needed to improve the accuracy and completeness of the clinical information on the Facility Worksheet. Some hospitals have developed a streamlined Facility Worksheet that can be printed on one page (front and back). Click here for a sample two-page worksheet in Word format which can be modified for your site. While some hospitals have found that it is helpful to re-order the questions, please ensure that the questions themselves are not changed. Some North Carolina hospitals are asking their nurses to help complete the Facility Worksheet. Nurses can access all of the medical records needed to find the required data and, because they are already familiar with their patients’ histories, may be able to provide much of the information efficiently.
Resources
CDC-NCHS PowerPoint Presentation: The New Birth Certificate: Making Vital Statistics More Vital
North Carolina Birth Certificate - New Version
Facility Worksheet for the Live Birth Certificate - can be modified for your site
(Thank you to Catawba Valley Medical Center for sharing the condensed worksheet developed by their birth registrar.)
Birth Certificate Worksheet
Chart: Clinical questions included on the 2003 standard US birth certificate, comparison to previous version of the birth certificate