Common errors in writing the cause of death certificate in the Middle East

Dash

Journal of Education and Health Promotion

2022

BACKGROUND: A Medical Certificate of Cause of Death (MCCD) is a vital document issued by a doctor and has a prescribed format published by the World Health Organization. It is an essential tool to obtain scientific and reliable information in terms of the cause of mortality. The aim of this study is to assess the knowledge about MCCD and to evaluate the impact of sensitization training on the MCCD among the physicians working in the trauma and emergency department in a Tertiary Care Centre. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A quasi-experimental quality improvement hospital-based study executed in Trauma and Emergency Department of Tertiary Care Hospital in Chhattisgarh State, India. The physicians posted in the Trauma and Emergency Department were participated in the study and attended the sensitization training session on MCCD. Statistical analysis used; the data were entered in Microsoft Excel and analyzed with SPSS version 20 statistical software. Mean scores and standard deviation (SD) were used for pre and posttest data while statistical significance was tested using the paired t-test. P < 0.05 was considered as significant. The technical and medical errors in MCCD forms were depicted in percentages. RESULTS: A total of 54 physicians completed the study, including 42 junior resident doctors, 6 senior resident doctors, and 6 faculties. There was a significant difference in the scores before (M = 4.39, SD = 1.571) and after (M = 7.5, SD = 0.885) the training (t = 17.6, P < 0.0001). The participants showed substantial improvement by reduction in technical errors from 28% to 14% while the medical error also slashed down from 42% to 16%. CONCLUSIONS: Sensitization and educational training should be carried out consistently on regular intervals to improve the knowledge of physicians regarding the appropriate filling of MCCD and minimize the errors in MCCD, ultimately this will enhance usability and comparability of mortality statistics generated from International Classification of Diseases data.

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The knowledge assessment and reducing the errors of medical certificate of cause of death with sensitization training of physicians

Dash

Journal of Education and Health Promotion

2022

“…The death certificate (DC) is an official document whose main function is to serve as a reference for public health policies regarding the causes of death. In addition, it is a necessary document to register the death of an individual and authorize the burial [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…es/ search/ index AN. jsp) 2. Literal death certificate is a document issued by the Civil Registry once the DC has already been recorded and includes the basic information of the decease (name, date and place of death, age, ID num-ber…) but, in Spain, it does not include the cause of death because this data is only used for public health purpose.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Judicial consequences in Spain for the completion of the medical death certificate

et al. 2021

The completion of the death certificate is indispensable in Spain for a death to be recorded in the civil registry. Occasionally, doctors may be reluctant to sign a death certificate due to possible legal consequences. This study seeks to analyse the possible judicial consequences doctors may face upon filling out this medico-legal document. Sentences published on the Judicial Power’s website between 2009 and 2019 containing the term “death certificate” were analysed. From a total of 2100 sentences examined, only 15 were found to contain the term “death certificate” as part of the claim. In only 7 of these cases the claim was made against the physician, and in 5 the physician was found guilty. Three of them concluded falsity via criminal proceedings, one via administrative proceedings for refusing to sign the certificate and one through civil proceedings for filling out an erroneous antecedent cause of death. In view of the above, it can be inferred that the completion of the death certificate poses few judicial consequences for physicians. In addition, this study reveals the importance of the death certificate document as evidence in judicial proceedings.

“…Errors in the completion of the medical certificate of cause-of-death by doctors are not uncommon globally. 3 , 4 A study conducted in Nepal reported errors in 79% of death certificates. 5 In a study conducted in Greece, Filippatos et al reported inaccuracies in death certificates that included the mention of the mechanism of death, improper sequencing of causes of death, and the mention of an irrelevant cause of death in 5.8%, 16.8%, and 31.2% of the death certificates, respectively.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Medical Students’ Knowledge of the Cause-of-Death Certification: A Descriptive, Cross-Sectional Study from Saudi Arabia

Madadin¹

2021

IJGM

Self Cite

Background The medical certificate of cause-of-death is an important document of medicolegal significance. Errors in the completion of the death certificate by doctors are not uncommon. Therefore, it is important for medical students, the future doctors, to be trained in completing the medical certificate of cause-of-death. This study aimed to investigate the understanding of final-year medical students of the cause-of-death certification and to assess their ability to complete the cause-of-death statement. Material and Methods The final-year medical students of Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, of the academic year 2020–21 formed the cohort of medical students that participated in the current descriptive, cross-sectional study wherein a self-administered online questionnaire was used. Results A total of 174 students provided complete responses. The immediate cause of death in the given case scenario was answered correctly by 107 (61.5%) of the students. The underlying cause of death was answered correctly by only 20 (11.5%) students. It was apparent that the chain of events leading to death in the given case scenario was wrongly understood by the majority of the students. Nonetheless, the other significant condition contributing to death was answered correctly by 151 (86.8%) students. Other errors included the use of abbreviations, mention of the mechanism of death as a cause of death, mention of clinical features or irrelevant causes of death and mention of the incorrect time interval between the onset of a cause of death and death. Conclusion The current study found that the overall performance of final-year medical students was reasonably good except for the fact that most misunderstood the underlying cause of death in the given case scenario. The majority of the students had attended a tutorial on medical certification of cause-of-death before participating in the current study, which suggests that continuous training might be required.