Assessment of the completeness of filling the pregnant woman's card from the Ministry of Health: a national, cross-sectional study

This article aims to evaluate the com-pleteness of the pregnant woman???s card filling ac-cording to a model standardized by the Ministry of Health. Hospital based, nationwide, cross-sec-tional study conducted between 2011 and 2012, evaluated data from pregnant women???s cards. Variables related to personal, obstetric history and current pregnancy data were used to assess completeness. We used the Kotelchuck index for quantitative evaluation. We analysed 6,577 cards, equivalent to 39% of the cards presented at the time of delivery. The mean completeness was over-all ???bad??? in Brazil and macro-regions, except in the Southern region. Nationwide, the mean com-pletion was ???regular??? for personal antecedents, ???good??? for obstetric history, and ???bad??? for fields related to the current pregnancy. Prenatal care was adequate for 58% of pregnant women. We observed a reduced use of the card recommend-ed by the Ministry of Health and failures in the completeness of filling valuable information of the pregnant woman???s card, related to the current pregnancy.