National Vital Statistics System

Training

Births and Fetal Deaths

Applying Best Practices for Reporting Medical and Health Information on Birth Certificates

Applying Best Practices for Reporting Medical and Health Information on Birth Certificates

Discover your role in improving maternal and infant health information in the United States. This course is designed to increase your knowledge of the importance of and best practices for reporting birth certificate and fetal death information. Course content, developed by state and national vital statistics experts, covers the latest national guidelines for reporting this information. Continuing education and certificates of completion are available for this course.

The target audience for this course is physicians, nurses, and non-clinical staff at hospitals or free-standing birthing centers who are responsible for completing the medical and health information for the certificate of live birth and report of fetal death.

Fetal Deaths

Fetal Deaths: Importance – History – Reporting [PDF – 1.2 MB]

Improved fetal death data is key for improving maternal and child health. Despite efforts to improve the quality of the data collected, the quality of fetal death data continues to be of concern.

These slides are designed to help improve the quality of fetal death data by offering a comprehensive overview of the importance, history, and reporting of fetal deaths. This training includes information on international reporting of fetal deaths, vital statistics fetal death data, state definitions and reporting requirements, history of fetal death reporting in the U.S., cause of fetal death, data availability, and statistics.

Deaths

Improving Cause of Death Reporting

Improving Cause-of-Death Reporting

Program Description / Objectives / Instructions for Obtaining Continuing Education

This training will help you better understand why it is important to completely and accurately document causes of death on the death certificate. This training will discuss how cause-of-death information is used, how to complete the death certificate, when to refer cases to the medical examiner or coroner, and where to find additional information.

The target audience for this course is physicians and other professionals responsible for certifying the medical information on the death certificate for deaths due to natural causes.

Writing Cause of Death Statement Materials

Writing Cause-of-Death Statements

A collection of white papers, reference sheets, publications, handbooks, and special guidelines targeting physicians, medical examiners, and coroners tasked with reporting cause-of-death on the death certificate.