Tennessee: Using a Statewide Data System for Family Planning

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In 1970 the Tennessee state health department established a statewide system for collecting family planning data which are used by service providers and planners to manage the statewide program and evaluate ongoing program efforts. Teach-ins were held explaining the reasons for instituting the system the potential use for clinic staff and extensive directions on completing the data forms. The first form is a medical visit record used principally for admission medical followup and annual return visits. The second form is a record for non-medical transactions as recruitment resupply or counseling. The forms are to be filled out by clerical paramedical or nursing staff. Through the system monthly reports of delinquent patients may be utilized for followup and each county can be ranked according to the proportion of estimated numbers in need of family planning services who have been served. 6 reports are sent to each county monthly including: 1) a due list of those due to return for services over the next 6 weeks; 2) a missed list of patients who missed their scheduled return for service during the preceeding 2 months; 3) a dropped list of patients 2 or more months overdue; 4) a monthly listing of county rankings by the proportion of local target population currently receiving services; 5) a report on patient activity status by method of contraception; 6) a monthly report on number of visits showing which members of each countys clinic staff are delivering which types of services. A major reason for initiating a centralized record system was to stimulate interest in family planning at the county level while giving each county a tool to evaluate its own performance and compare its program to other counties. County continuation rates vary from 40.1% to 77.6%. For the state as a whole 54.6% of the 46950 pill patients were still active 1 year after their initial clinic visit.