June Birth Data News

                                                                                           June 2014

Birth Data News

Best Practices Spotlight:
Regions Hospital

(Editor's note: The Office of Vital Records will periodically spotlight hospitals throughout the state that are helping Minnesota lead the nation in birth registration. The second hospital we have chosen to spotlight is Regions Hospital in Saint Paul.)

Regions Hospital filed 2,483 births in 2013 with birth registrar staff working diligently to collect the birth information. They use interpreters and worksheets in the Hmong, Somali, and Spanish languages to assist in collecting accurate information from a diverse urban population filing 98.7 percent of births within five days.

Best practices include consistent communication among their birth registry staff including any changes or updates to MR&C or MDH guidelines. Birth registry staff members continually look for ways to improve processes to make the most of their time and resources.

They also keep building on their good relationships with nurses, health unit coordinators (HUCs), staff members in the Birth Center, and in Labor and Delivery -  Teamwork!

Please join us in congratulating Regions Hospital for a job well done!


2013 Birth Records – By the Numbers

Have you ever wondered what the most often corrected (before one year or issuance of a birth certificate) and most often amended (after one year or issuance of a birth certificate) demographic data items on birth records are?  This month we would like to share the "Top 10" most often corrected and amended demographic fields for babies who were born in 2013.

Most Corrected Fields - Number of Corrections 

1.      Father’s city of birth - 418

2.      Mother’s city of birth - 415

3.      Child’s middle name - 406

4.      Mother’s maiden last name - 391

5.      Child’s first name - 355

6.      Mother’s maiden middle name - 209

7.      Father’s date of birth - 190

8.      Father’s middle name - 177

9.      Mother’s middle name - 173

10.   Child’s time of birth - 166

Most Amended Fields - Number of Amendments 

1.      Mother’s maiden last name - 30

2.      Father’s date of birth - 29

3.      Mother’s city of birth - 25

4.      Father’s city of birth - 23

5.      Mother’s date of birth - 18

6.      Child’s last name - 14

7.      Child’s middle name - 14

8.      Father’s middle name - 14

(tie) 9.      Child’s first name - 8

9.     Father’s first name - 8

9.     Father’s last name - 8

In relation to the top 10 lists above, when parents review the birth verification form, you may want to ask them to pay special attention to the city of birth for both the mother and father, and also the mother’s maiden name.

Did You Know?

  • Number of births registered  in 2013:  68,489
  • Number of certificates issued for only 2013 births:  44,115
  • Of the 44,115 certificates, 19,728 were issued within the first 30 days after birth

The top five counties that issued the most birth certificates for babies born only in 2013 were:

1. Hennepin - 13,831

2. Ramsey - 6,680

3. Dakota - 2,650

4. Anoka - 2,410

5. Washington - 2,163

DHS HIRES NEW PATERNITY ADMINISTRATOR
Lindsay Daraitis was recently named the new Paternity Program Administrator by the Minnesota Department of Human Services.
Lindsay has been with DHS for about a year and a half, first on the Help Desk and currently in the Performance and Reporting Unit. Before DHS, she worked at Anoka County, both in Corrections and more recently in Child Support.
"I've been working for Minnesota families for the last seven years, and I'm excited to continue to serve in my new capacity," she said.
Lindsay can be reached at 651-431-4435 or lindsay.daraitis@state.mn.us


DATA ITEM: PREVIOUS PRETERM BIRTH
Much of the information for the birth record pertains to the current birth you are entering, but there are several data fields that refer to previous births.

One data item that has been turning up on the birth edits is "previous preterm birth" versus the number of live births. This means that under the "Risk factors" section, the previous preterm birth box is checked. But under the "Mother’s live birth" section there isn't any previous live birth(s) indicated.

The definition of a previous preterm birth is the history of a pregnancy terminating in a live birth of less than 37 completed weeks of gestation.

You may have previous live births indicated but you would not check the "previous preterm birth" checkbox unless there was a previous live birth less than 37 completed weeks of gestation.