Errors in cause-of-death statement on death certificates in intensive care unit of Kathmandu, Nepal

BMC Health Services Research

Volumn 15, Issue 1, 2015, Pages

  Maharjan, Leison ^a   Shah, Aarzoo ^b   Shrestha, Khagendra Bahadur ^a   Shrestha, Gambhir ^c  

^a Civil Service Hospital and Blue Cross Hospital   (Nepal)

^b KATHMANDU MEDICAL COLLEGE   (Nepal)

^c B P KOIRALA INSTITUTE OF HEALTH SCIENCES   (Nepal)

Author keywords

Cause of death; Death certificate; Errors; ICU deaths; Immediate cause of death; Underlying cause of death

Indexed keywords

AGED; CAUSE OF DEATH; CRITICAL ILLNESS; DEATH CERTIFICATE; EPIDEMIOLOGY; FEMALE; HEALTH CARE POLICY; HUMAN; INTENSIVE CARE UNIT; LEGISLATION AND JURISPRUDENCE; MALE; MANAGEMENT; MEDICAL ERROR; MEDICAL RECORD; MIDDLE AGED; MORTALITY; NEPAL; PREVENTION AND CONTROL; RETROSPECTIVE STUDY; SEPSIS; STATISTICS AND NUMERICAL DATA; VERY ELDERLY;

AGED; AGED, 80 AND OVER; CAUSE OF DEATH; CRITICAL ILLNESS; DEATH CERTIFICATES; FEMALE; HEALTH POLICY; HUMANS; INTENSIVE CARE UNITS; MALE; MEDICAL ERRORS; MEDICAL RECORDS; MIDDLE AGED; NEPAL; POLICY MAKING; RETROSPECTIVE STUDIES; SEPSIS;

EID: 84946593007     PISSN: None     EISSN: 14726963     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1186/s12913-015-1168-6     Document Type: Article

References (29)

1. Randall B. Death certification: a primer. Part I-an introduction to the death certificate. S D Med. 2014;67(5):196-9.
2. World Health Organization: Civil registration: why counting births and deaths is important. World Health Organization; 2014, at: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs324/en/. Last accessed on 21st April, 2015.
3. Mahapatra P, Shibuya K, Lopez AD, Coullare F, Notzon FC, Rao C, et al. Civil registration systems and vital statistics: successes and missed opportunities. Lancet. 2007;370(9599):1653-63.
4. Rao C, Lopez AD, Yang G, Begg S, Ma J. Evaluating national cause-of-death statistics: principles and application to the case of China. Bull World Health Organ. 2005;83(8):618-25.
5. Sondik EJ, Anderson JR, Madans JH, Cox LH, Makuc DM, Williams PD, et al. Physicians' handbook on medical certification of death. Hyattsville: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics; 2003.
6. Hanzlick R. Quality assurance review of death certificates: a pilot study. Am J Forensic Med Pathol. 2005;26(1):63-5.
7. Raje MG. Evaluation of errors and its etiological relevance with variables associated with death certificate. J Indian Acad Forensic Med. 2011;33(1):50-6.
8. Haque AS, Shamim K, Siddiqui NH, Irfan M, Khan JA. Death certificate completion skills of hospital physicians in a developing country. BMC Health Serv Res. 2013;13:205.
9. Jordan JM, Bass MJ. Errors in death certificate completion in a teaching hospital. Clin Invest Med. 1993;16(4):249-55.
10. Weeramanthri T, Beresford B. Death certification in Western Australia - classification of major errors in certificate completion. Aust J Public Health. 1992;16(4):431-4.
11. Maudsley G, Williams EM. Death certification by House Officers and General Practitioners - practice and performance. J Public Health. 1993;15(2):192-201.
12. Pandya H, Bose N, Shah R, Chaudhury N, Phatak A. Educational intervention to improve death certification at a teaching hospital. Natl Med J India. 2009;22(6):317-9.
13. Myers KA, Farquhar DRE. Improving the accuracy of death certification. Cand Med Assoc J. 1998;158(10):1317-23.
14. Sellers AH. Common errors in certifying the cause of death on the medical certificate. Cand Med Assoc J. 1938;39(5):468-73.
15. WHO: International statistical classification of diseases and related health problems, tenth revision. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2004.
16. Hanzlick RL. Cause-of-death statements and certifications of natural and unnatural deaths. Waukegan Road, Northfield: College of American Pathologists; 1997.
17. Grissom CK, Brown SM, Kuttler KG, Boltax JP, Jones J, Jephson AR, et al. A Modified Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (MSOFA) score for critical care triage. Disaster Med Public Health Prep. 2010;4(4):277-84.
18. Bone RC, Balk RA, Cerra FB, Dellinger RP, Fein AM, Knaus WA, et al. Definitions for sepsis and organ failure and guidelines for the use of innovative therapies in sepsis. Chest. 1992;101(6):1644-55.
19. Smith Sehdev AE, Hutchins GM. Problems with proper completion and accuracy of the cause of death statement. Arch Intern Med. 2001;161(2):277-84.
20. Pritt BS, Hardin NJ, Richmond JA. Death certification errors at an academic institution. Arch Pathol Lab Med. 2005;129(11):1476-9.
21. Cina SJ, Selby DM, Clark B. Accuracy of death certification in two tertiary care military hospitals. Mil Med. 1999;164(12):897-9.
22. Ruzicka LT, Lopez AD. The use of cause-of-death statistics for health situation assessment: national and international experiences. World Health Stat Q. 1990;43(4):249-58.
23. James DS, Bull AD. Death certification: is correct formulation of cause of death related to seniority or experience? J R Coll Physicians Lond. 1995;29(5):424-8.
24. Fernando R. Medical certification of cause of death in the General Hospital, Colombo. Ceylon Med J. 1990;35(2):71-4.
25. James DS, Bull AD. Information on death certificates: cause for concern? J Clin Pathol. 1996;49(3):213-6.
26. El-Menyar H, Thani E, Zakaria A, Zarour A, Tuma M, AbdulRahman H, et al. Multiple Organ Dysfunction Syndrome (MODS): is it preventable or inevitable? Int J Clin Med. 2012;3(7A):722-30.
27. Leape LL. Error in medicine. JAMA. 1994;272(23):1851-7.
28. Selinger CP, Ellis RA, Harrington MG. A good death certificate: improved performance by simple educational measures. Postgrad Med J. 2007;83:285-6.
29. Rampatige R, Mikkelsen L, Hernandez B, Riley I, Lopez AD. Systematic review of statistics on causes of deaths in hospitals: strengthening the evidence for policy-makers. Bull World Health Organ. 2014;92:807-16.