Bibliographic Info
GuidelineWHO recommendations on antenatal care for a positive pregnancy experience
Year of Publication2016
Issuing InstitutionWHO
Recommendation
Status
Maintained
Recommended
Certainty of evidence
Moderate
It is recommended that each pregnant woman carries her own case notes during pregnancy to improve continuity, quality of care and her pregnancy experience.
Notes and Remarks
- 1.The GDG noted that women-held case notes are widely used and are often the only medical records available in various LMIC settings.
- 2.The GDG agreed that the benefits of women-held case notes outweigh the disadvantages. However, careful consideration should be given as to what personal information it is necessary to include in the case notes, to avoid stigma and discrimination in certain settings. In addition, health-system planners should ensure that admission to hospitals or other health-care facilities do not depend on women presenting their case notes.
- 3.Health-system planners should consider which form the women-held case notes should take (electronic or paper-based), whether whole sets of case notes will be held by women or only specific parts of them, and how copies will be kept by health-care facilities.
- 4.For paper-based systems, health-system planners also need to ensure that case notes are durable and transportable. Health systems that give women access to their case notes through electronic systems need to ensure that all pregnant women have access to the appropriate technology and that attention is paid to data security.
- 5.Health-system planners should ensure that the contents of the case notes are accessible to all pregnant women through the use of appropriate, local languages and appropriate reading levels
Also Featured In
This recommendation also appears in the following guidelines:
Guideline
WHO guideline on self-care interventions for health and well-being
Year2021
InstitutionWHO
Guideline
WHO guideline on self-care interventions for health and well-being, 2022 revision.
Year2022
InstitutionWHO