title: Controlled trial on medical birth notification design.
abstract: In a controlled trial, two different forms were compared with respect to thoroughness of completing medical data on procedures during pregnancy, labor, and in newborns. The contents of 547 forms filled in by hospital personnel were compared to data abstracted from hospital records by trained research assistants. Forms with open-ended questions lacked information on 29% of the most common procedures and forms with a check-box format 9%. The results support the use of the check-box format in routine collection of data on common medical procedures.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, University of Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Teperi
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mäkelä
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hemminki
mesh_terms: D001719:Birth Certificates; D003625:Data Collection / Q000379:methods*; D005189:False Positive Reactions; D005387:Finland; D005568:Forms and Records Control; D006801:Humans