Principles and Pitfalls: a Guide to Death Certification #MMPMID26185270
Brooks EG; Reed KD
Clin Med Res 2015[Jun]; 13 (2): 74-82 PMID26185270show 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.