Design of Infertility Monitoring System: Minimum Data Set Approach

Reproductive health is vital for human and infertility is also one of the most important challenges in the reproductive system. Infertility is one of the most common chronic health disorders, regardless of age. The Minimum Data Set (MDS) helps to manage infertility by monitoring and evaluating infertility interventions based on collecting data. The development of MDS is an essential objective in order to implement an infertility monitoring system for the creation of standardized and effective data management through the provision of comprehensive and identical data elements for infertility. This is a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted in 2017. The data has been collected from infertility clinics in the world, as well as WHO, CDC, ASRM, and ESHRE reports. In order to decide on data elements, the Delphi technique was used using a questionnaire that contained data elements which were distributed among 12 experts including one reproductive endocrinology and infertility fellow, six obstetrician-gynecologists, two reproductive biologists, two urologists and one community medicine specialist using the 5 point Likert scale. The questionnaire was divided into two categories: managerial and clinical, each with 4 sections, and 60 and 940 data elements, respectively. MDS is an essential tool for evaluating the infertility process. Using this tool will provide an opportunity to develop a set of quality care criteria that can be used to ensure the quality of infertility care.