Female—number of antenatal care visits, total N[N]

Identifying and definitional attributes

• Health, Superseded 02/08/2017
• Tasmanian Health, Superseded 03/07/2020

Value domain attributes

Representational attributes

Data element attributes

Collection and usage attributes

Antenatal care visits are attributed to the pregnant woman.

In rural and remote locations where a midwife or doctor is not employed, registered Aboriginal health workers and registered nurses may perform this role within the scope of their training and skill licence.

Include all pregnancy-related appointments with medical doctors where the medical officer has entered documentation related to that visit on the antenatal record.

An antenatal care visit does not include a visit where the sole purpose of contact is to confirm the pregnancy only, or those contacts that occurred during the pregnancy that related to other non-pregnancy related issues.

An antenatal care visit does not include a visit where the sole purpose of contact is to perform image screening, diagnostic testing or the collection of bloods or tissue for pathology testing. Exception to this rule is made when the health professional performing the procedure or test is a doctor or midwife and the appointment directly relates to this pregnancy and the health and wellbeing of the fetus.

Collect the total number of antenatal care visits for which there is documentation included in the health record of pregnancy and/or birth. To be collected once, after the onset of labour. Include all medical specialist appointments or medical specialist clinic appointments where the provider of the service event has documented the visit on the health record.

Multiple visits on the same day should be recorded as one visit.

The scope and definition of antenatal care visits was developed through consultation with stakeholders from midwifery, obstetric, perinatal data managers and other interested parties in 2010.

Source and reference attributes

National Perinatal Epidemiology and Statistics Unit

Clinical Practice Improvement Unit (CPIU) 2006, 3Centre consensus guidelines on antenatal care. Melbourne: 3Centres Collaboration.

Relational attributes