Shared responsibility for electronic records: governance in perinatal data entry

This paper presents research undertaken as part of a larger research project to examine the factors that influence midwives when entering perinatal data. A grounded theory methodology was used to undertake qualitative interviews with 15 participants from 12 different hospitals across Queensland, Australia using three different systems for perinatal data collection. The findings surrounding accountability are presented revealing that a shift in governance relating to responsibility and accountability is not occurring in midwifery units across Queensland. Without assignation of responsibility for entries and accountability for mistakes or omissions, perinatal data records can be left incomplete or inaccurate. Increasing use of electronic health records and creation of digital hospitals indicates these issues are highly relevant in planning for these services.