The Effect of Student Training on Accuracy of Completion of Death Certificates

Abstract

Background:Death certificates are an invaluable source of statistical and medical information, as well as important legal documents. However, few physicians receive formal training on how to accurately complete them.Purpose:To determine if a simple intervention can improve the accuracy of death certificate completion by medical students.Methods:Participants included all third year medical students undergoing their core Internal Medicine rotation at Mercer University School of Medicine at the Medical Center of Central Georgia. Participation was voluntary and participants completed an approved informed consent.Students were presented a tutorial from the National Association of Medical Examiners website. They were asked to complete a death certificate both before and after the tutorial along with subjective questionnaires. The primary outcome measurement was the difference in scores pre- and post-tutorial.Results:The mean score before the tutorial was 11.75 (±3.20) and the mean score post-tutorial was 18.85 (±2.56), indicating an increase in scores. The mean difference in pre- and post-tutorial scores was significant (t = 20.39, p < 0.0001).Conclusions:We found that using a tutorial to teach students how to correctly complete a death certificate was effective.

Agreement on underlying causes of infant death between original records and after investigation: analysis of two biennia in the years 2000

“…Hence, the qualification of physicians and Medicine students for the complete and coherent record of information in the DC is an essential measure to improve the quality of mortality statistics 1,21,22 . Infant Death Investigation Committees can collaborate in this meaning because they present in their attributions the sensitization of professionals to appropriately complete such records 10,14 .…”

“…Therefore, studies assessing the reasons for this greater discordance in more recent years should be performed. Regardless of the need of more studies, the importance of adopting educational measures aiming at stimulating the correct completion of this document must be more emphasized 1,8,21,22 .…”

Autopsy Service Death Certificate Review

“…Several studies have described various education initiatives that have decreased the death certificate error rate; however, there has been no study that examines the longterm success of these interventions. [3][4][5][9][10][11] Interactive workshops and seminars have been described as the most effective form of education 3,9,10 ; however, with the time constraints placed on resident education, it is unlikely that several hours of time will be allotted to teach death certification. Additionally, any such intervention in a teaching hospital would need to be done annually to address the new interns, who often are responsible for filling out the death certificate.…”

Identificación de los conocimientos de calidad de la información de mortalidad en Bogotá

“…Sin embargo, se ha visto que los procesos formativos encaminados a mejorar la certificación de causas de muerte han mostrado resultados contradictorios relacionados con su impacto. Cuando estos procesos han incluido evaluación, al terminar la actividad educativa han reportado mejoría (30)(31)(32)(33)(34), mientras que aquellos que hacen la valoración un tiempo después (6 meses), muestran resultados poco satisfactorios (31).…”