Maternity model of care—profession of designated maternity carer, code N[N]

Identifying and definitional attributes

• Health, Standard 14/05/2015

Value domain attributes

Representational attributes

Collection and usage attributes

CODE 1   Specialist obstetrician - public

This code also includes accredited obstetric registrars.

CODE 3   General practitioner obstetrician

This code is used for General practitioners (GP) who have undertaken additional training in obstetrics and are holders of either the Diploma of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (DRANZCOG) or the DRANZCOG Advanced.

CODE 4   Midwife - public

Use this code for midwives employed in the public health system.

CODE 5   Midwife - private

Use this code for midwives employed in the private health system but not working independently. This may be in a private hospital or in an obstetrician's private practice.

CODE 6   Midwife - privately practising

Use this code for independent privately practising midwives working in either a private or public healthcare setting. This includes privately practising midwives with visiting rights to a public or private hospital to provide intrapartum care, privately practising midwives who provide privately funded homebirth services or private midwives providing antenatal and postnatal care independently.

CODE 9  Aboriginal health practitioner

This code is used for registered Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Health Workers with a minimum of a Certificate IV in Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Primary Health Care (Practice) or equivalent.

CODE 10  Aboriginal maternal infant care practitioner

This code is used for registered Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Health Workers with a minimum of a Certificate IV in Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Primary Health Care (Practice), or equivalent who have additional qualifications to specialise in the provision of clinical maternal and infant care.

CODE 12   Shared care

Use this code when the model of care is a formal shared care arrangement with no single designated carer (or the designated carer may change at different times of pregnancy or be shared). This could be between different combinations of maternity care professionals such as GP and midwife, GP and hospital RMO, GP and obstetrician, Midwife and Aboriginal health practitioner etc.

CODE 13   Multidisciplinary team

Use this code when the model of care has no individual designated carer and all care is provided by a team of clinicians that may include obstetricians and midwives.

CODE 15 Other allied health practitioner

This code is used for other registered allied health professionals not covered by other codes. This includes (but is not limited to): physiotherapists, dieticians, chiropractors, educators, occupational therapists, social workers, speech pathologists, pharmacists and podiatrists.

CODE 17 Public hospital medical officer

This code is used for medical practitioners mainly employed in a salaried position in a public hospital who do not have a recognised specialist qualification and who are not in training to gain a recognised specialist qualification. It includes interns, resident medical officers, career medical officers and other non-specialised medical practitioners.

Source and reference attributes

Data element attributes

Collection and usage attributes

The designated maternity carer may also be known as the maternity care co-ordinator, primary or lead carer or named carer within a model of care and is the profession of the maternity care provider who is responsible for co-ordinating the maternity care for a woman. In some cases this may not be an individual but may be a multi-disciplinary team or a shared care arrangement.

The designated maternity carer may not always be the most senior clinician involved in the care of women in the model. For example, an antenatal clinic in a public hospital may have midwives conducting the antenatal visits and providing the majority of care for the women attending. An obstetrician may be available onsite for the midwives to consult with and refer women to when required and is the more senior clinician supervising the clinic, however the value for this data element would be recorded as CODE 4 Midwife – public.

Restrictions on values:

The following codes are not permissible values for this data element:

CODE 9    Aboriginal health practitioner

CODE 14  Perinatal mental health worker

CODE 15  Other allied health practitioner

CODE 16  Medical specialist other than obstetric

CODE 17  Public hospital medical officer 

Source and reference attributes

Relational attributes