The Public Health Nursing Minimum Data Set: Development,Application and Use

Abstract

The development of the minimum data set is an initial effort to establish uniform standards for the collection of essential and comparable data from public health nursing practice. The topic has not been researched and implemented in the Nordic countries to any great extent nor in Europe as a whole. This paper presents an outline of the international development of the minimum data sets for the community health care settings and the ambulatory nursing settings. A Swedish patient-related information system in primary health care is also described. Furthermore a description is given of how a Public Health Nursing Minimum Data Set (PHNMDS) was created and integrated into such an information system. The minimum data set items and their coding for statistical processing are also described. A proposed classification system for coding of the reasons for contacts in primary health care has been used. The usefulness of the PHNMDS is demonstrated by the epidemiological studies from clinical public health nursing practice at a local level. The methods and analyses of the studies can generally be used at local, regional and national levels.