Necessity for designing national minimum data set of perinatal Period in Iran: A Review Article

Minimum Data Set (MDS) is an important first step in the development of health care information system، since it leads to improve the quality of perinatal health care، achieving to integrate information system and meet the information needs of Obstetricians and Gynecologists، and other health care providers to deliver accurate and timely data. The aim of this study was to understand the definition of perinatal MDS، history، necessity، importance، and the purpose of MDS. This study was a review article based on Google Scholar، PubMed، Science Direct، EBSCO، SID and Iran medex database، and also accredited institutions in Australia، Canada، New zealand، America and England were searched. Finally 58 articles were selected and evaluated between 1986 to 2012. The literature review showed that the MDS was necessary for moving toward Electronic Health Record (EHR)، and the information exchange between different health centers. In many countries، the main purpose of MDS is perinatal health data comparisons and analysis and also statistical reporting، reduction of inequalities among pregnant women and babies، guarantee quality assurance. Reduction of perinatal mortality، health care planning and evaluation، research، clinical audit، teaching، health policy and resource allocation at the national level. Iran is in lack of perinatal national minimum data set. Designing model for perinatal MDS has an important role in improving the quality of health information and community health indicators. Therefore، the implementation of a national MDS needs the experiences of the developed countries and customizing to the needs of the country، because it is an inevitable necessity.