Background: Death certificates render epidemiologists and other researchers with statistical data concerning causes of death within the society. The certificates that are filled out incorrectly would furnish false and unreliable data.
Objective: To determine whether these certificates are being filled correctly by clinicians, how frequently errors are occurring, and what types of errors are being committed by the physicians in our country.
Materials and Methods: A total of 1,947 consecutive death certificates issued by community physicians were collected from 12 administrative wards of 4 zones of Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) from June 2012 to November 2013. Errors were grouped into major (unacceptable cause of death, nonspecific cause of death, and incorrect order) and minor categories (absence of time interval, irrelevant information, and incorrectly completed).
Result: Of 1,947 certificates, only 1.1% certificates were error free. Major and minor errors were found in 98.9% certificates, and 81.5% revealed at least one major error, most commonly listing the mechanism of death without mention of an underlying disease as the cause of death, which was found in 1,325 (69.6%) certificates. Causes of these errors (99%) were lack of training and diagnostic difficulty. Several errors were found in nonmedical part, which highlight routine attitude of certifier.
Conclusion: Errors are common in the completion of death certificates issued by community physicians in VMC. There is a pressing need for appropriate intervention/s to resolve this important issue.
Key words: Death, certificate, error, ICD-10, MCCD
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