Registration of obstetric / midwifery data

In the Netherlands most midwives, obstetricians and neonatologists participate in the National Obstetric Registration (Landelijke Verloskundige Registratie LVR). This is a national databank in which caregivers register the obstetrical results of their clients anonymously. The purpose of this is among other things to provide the midwifery practice results for a yearly report that both compares results with colleagues, and can form the basis for national scientific research. The research done with LVR files from midwifery practices is aimed mainly at obstetric results such as referral to a hospital, location and mode of giving birth and data regarding the baby. This midwifery practice participates in LVR. For you this means that all data will be recorded anonymously in LVR. Neither you nor your baby can be tracked as persons.

Vecas

Our midwifery practice also participates in scientific research, carried out by the Faculty of Midwifery Education & studies in Maastricht (Academie Verloskunde Maastricht AVM) of Zuyd University. VeCaS is the AVM databank in which twenty-five midwifery practices, distributed throughout the Netherlands, register their client records anonymously. Also in this databank neither you nor your baby can be tracked as persons.

Research carried out with VeCaS data is specially intended for the course of pregnancy, labour and postpartum period. The first questions AVM hopes to answer with these data are:

• ‘What is the course of a pregnant women’s blood pressure in a midwifery practice?’
• ‘How many kilograms women gain on average during their pregnancy?’

Research with data from midwifery case records can be used for expanding knowledge in the area of the ‘normal’ course of pregnancy, labour and postpartum period. This knowledge can provide an essential contribution towards optimizing midwifery care.