Principles and Pitfalls: a Guide to Death Certification
#MMPMID26185270
Brooks EG
; Reed KD
Clin Med Res
2015[Jun]; 13
(2
): 74-82; quiz 83-4
PMID26185270
show ga
Death certificates serve the critical functions of providing documentation for
legal/administrative purposes and vital statistics for epidemiologic/health
policy purposes. In order to satisfy these functions, it is important that death
certificates be filled out completely, accurately, and promptly. The high error
rate in death certification has been documented in multiple prior studies, as has
the effectiveness of educational training interventions at mitigating errors. The
following guide to death certification is intended to illustrate some basic
principles and common pitfalls in electronic death registration with the goal of
improving death certification accuracy.