@2024 Afarand., IRAN
ISSN: 1027-1457 Scientific Journal of Forensic Medicine 2020;26(1):19-29
ISSN: 1027-1457 Scientific Journal of Forensic Medicine 2020;26(1):19-29
Documentation Status of Death Certificates in Surgical Intensive Care Unit of Selected Teaching Hospitals of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences
ARTICLE INFO
Article Type
Descriptive & Survey StudyAuthors
Kamkar Karimzade M. (1)Meraji M. (1)
Yousefi M. (2)
Peivandi Yazdi A. (3)
Abbaspour H. (4)
Jamali J. (5)
Fazaeli S. (1)
(1) Department of Medical Records & Health Information Technology, School of Paramedical Sciences, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad , Iran
(2) “Department of Health Economics & Management Sciences, School of Health” and “Health Sciences Research Center”, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran
(3) Lung Diseases Research Center, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad , Iran
(4) Department of Anesthesiology & Critical Care, Medical School, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran
(5) Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, School of Health, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran
Correspondence
Address: School of Paramedical Sciences, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Vakil Abad Boulevard, Mashhad, Iran.Phone: +98 (51) 38846712
Fax: +98 (51) 38846712
fazaelis@mums.ac.ir
Article History
Received: January 12, 2020Accepted: June 21, 2020
ePublished: July 20, 2020
ABSTRACT
Aims
Death information is an essential source of health system planning. The aim of the present study was to examine the documentation status of death certificates in surgical intensive care unit of selected teaching hospitals of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences and provide solutions to improve it.
Instrument & Methods This applied research was conducted by combining quantitative and qualitative methods in four stages. At first, the death certificate checklist was created by reviewing the relevant literature and its validity and reliability were assessed. The death certificates issued in the surgical intensive care unit of selected hospitals were then examined. In the third phase, Focus Group documentarians were asked to document the causes of the defect during the focus group sessions. Finally, the results of the steps of the findings were presented to a panel of experts to find the most appropriate solutions.
Findings 15 related articles out of 76 were recovered and thoroughly examined (19.7%). The reasons for the error were the ambiguity of the physicians in the 19 cases of referral, low motivation, and low awareness of the necessity and manner of completing the death certificate. Strategies were evaluation and feedback to documentarians and development of general and specific guidelines for completing death certificates for different departments based on the frequency of absurd diagnoses in the form of workshop.
Conclusion Documentation status of death certificates in surgical intensive care unit of selected hospitals is not desirable. Applying the strategies of this study can lead to a reduction in ineffective referral to forensic medicine and more accurate completion of the death certificate in areas such as surgical intensive care unit of hospitals, and the possibility of providing accurate and complete statistics for better policy-making in the health system.
Instrument & Methods This applied research was conducted by combining quantitative and qualitative methods in four stages. At first, the death certificate checklist was created by reviewing the relevant literature and its validity and reliability were assessed. The death certificates issued in the surgical intensive care unit of selected hospitals were then examined. In the third phase, Focus Group documentarians were asked to document the causes of the defect during the focus group sessions. Finally, the results of the steps of the findings were presented to a panel of experts to find the most appropriate solutions.
Findings 15 related articles out of 76 were recovered and thoroughly examined (19.7%). The reasons for the error were the ambiguity of the physicians in the 19 cases of referral, low motivation, and low awareness of the necessity and manner of completing the death certificate. Strategies were evaluation and feedback to documentarians and development of general and specific guidelines for completing death certificates for different departments based on the frequency of absurd diagnoses in the form of workshop.
Conclusion Documentation status of death certificates in surgical intensive care unit of selected hospitals is not desirable. Applying the strategies of this study can lead to a reduction in ineffective referral to forensic medicine and more accurate completion of the death certificate in areas such as surgical intensive care unit of hospitals, and the possibility of providing accurate and complete statistics for better policy-making in the health system.
CITATION LINKS
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[2]Siqueira A, Rio E, Tanaka A, Schor N, Alvarenga A, Almeida L. Female mortality in the Municipality of Sao Paulo: quality of medical death certificates. Rev Saude Publica. 1999;33(5):499-504. [Portuguese]
[3]Deptartment of Health. Guidelines for recording and classifying causes of death. 2013.
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[8]National Forensics Organization. Principles and basics of medical death certification training. 2017.
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[10]Becker DP, Gade GF, Miller JD. Prognosis after head injury .In: Winn HR, Youmans JR, editors. Youmans neurological surgery. Volume 3. Philadelphia: WB Sanders; 2004. p. 2164-216.
[11]Helmreich RL. On error management: lessons from aviation. BMJ. 2000;320(7237):781-5.
[12]Weiser TG, Regenbogen SE, Thompson KD, Haynes AB, Lipsitz SR, Berry WR, et al. An estimation of the global volume of surgery: a modelling strategy based on available data. Lancet. 2008;372(9633):139-44.
[13]Ronsmans C, Graham WJ, group LMSSs. Maternal mortality: who, when, where, and why. lancet. 2006;368(9542):1189-200.
[14]Bickler SW, Sanno-Duanda B. Epidemiology of paediatric surgical admissions to a government referral hospital in the Gambia. Bull World Health Organ. 2000;78(11):1330-6.
[15]Kable A, Gibberd R, Spigelman A. Adverse events in surgical patients in Australia. Int J Qual Health Care. 2002;14(4):269-76.
[16]Mattke S, Epstein AM, Leatherman S. The OECD health care quality indicators project: history and background. Int J Qual Health Care. 2006;18(suppl1):1-4.
[17]McConkey SJ. Case series of acute abdominal surgery in rural Sierra Leone. World J Surg. 2002;26(4):509-13.
[18]Ouro-Bang'na Maman A, Tomta K, Ahouangbevi S, Chobli M. Deaths associated with anaesthesia in Togo, West Africa. Trop Doct. 2005;35(4):220-2.
[19]Yii M, Ng K. Risk‐adjusted surgical audit with the POSSUM scoring system in a developing country. Br J Surg. 2002;89(1):110-3.
[20]Keyvan Ara M, Zardooei S, Karimi S, Saghaiyannejad Esfahani S. Quality of death certificates issued in educational and non-teaching hospitals of Kermanshah. Health Inf Manag. 2011;8(1):23-32. [Persian]
[21]Ben Khelil M, Kamel M, Lahmar S, Mrabet A, Borsali NF, Hamdoun M. Death certificate accuracy in a Tunisian Emergency Department. Tunis Med. 2017;95(6):422-8.
[22]Burger EH, Van der Merwe L, Volmink J. Errors in the completion of the death notification form. S Afr Med J. 2007;97(11):1077-81.
[23]Meraji M, Barabadi M. Errors in the documentation of the death certificate: a case study. J Health Biomed Inf. 2015;2(3):168-75. [Persian]
[24]Hayavi Haghighi M, Khorami F, Alipour J, Dehghani M. The impact of errors in completing death certificat e on coding, underlying the cause of death in Shahid Mohammadi Hospital of Bandarabbas. J Health Admin. 2013;15(50):76-84. [Persian]
[25]Cheng TJ, Lee FC, Lin SJ, Lu TH. Improper cause-of-death statements by specialty of certifying physician: a cross-sectional study in two medical centres in Taiwan. BMJ Open. 2012;2(4):e001229.
[26]Rangraz Jeddi F, Ahmadi M, Sadoughi F, Gohari MR. Precision and accuracy of death certification data in Kashan Shahid Beheshti Hospital. Health Inf Manag. 2010;7(2):12-5.[Persian]
[27]Qaddumi JA, Nazzal Z, Yacoup AR, Mansour M. Quality of death notification forms in North West Bank/Palestine: a descriptive study. BMC Res Notes. 2017;10(1):154.
[28]Rezvani Ardestani SF, Shahnavazi H, Ghorbani M. Survey on the accuracy of death certificated issued with WHO Standards & ICD10 Mortality codes in Sina hospital in Tehran in the second half of 2013. Iran J Forensic Med. 2015;21(2):99-106. [Persian]
[29]Mostafazadeh B, Kamaloddini MH, Najari F. Study of death certificates and burial permit with the criteria of the world health organization and the ministry of health and medical education in Tehran during 2013-2014: brief report. Tehran Univ Med J. 2017;75(6):457-62. [Persian]
[30]Maharjan L, Shah A, Shrestha KB, Shrestha G. Errors in cause-of-death statement on death certificates in intensive care unit of Kathmandu, Nepal. BMC Health Serv Res. 2015;15(1):507.
[31]Lamoochi P, Aalipour E, Behresi HM. Correlation causes of death in death certificates of Ahvaz Aboozar hospital in 2009 and March to September 2010. Jentashapir Health Res. 2013;4(3):271-6. [Persian]
[32]Shokrizadeh Arani L, Karami M. Physicians' and Clinical Coders' Knowledge about Cause of Death Rules for Death Certification in Hospitals Affiliated to Kashan University of Medical Sciences. Iran J Med Educ. 2010;10(1):19-26. [Persian]
[33]Yousefinejad V, Sohrabi M, Mohammadzadeh P. Coordination of the causes of deaths recorded in death certificates issued in Sanandaj hospitals with ICD10 codes during 2015-2017. Iran J Forensic Med. 2018;24(3):211-7. [Persian]
[34]Washirasaksiri C, Raksasagulwong P, Chouriyagune C, Phisalprapa P, Srivanichakorn W. Accuracy and the factors influencing the accuracy of death certificates completed by first-year general practitioners in Thailand. BMC Health Serv Res. 2018;18(1):478.
[2]Siqueira A, Rio E, Tanaka A, Schor N, Alvarenga A, Almeida L. Female mortality in the Municipality of Sao Paulo: quality of medical death certificates. Rev Saude Publica. 1999;33(5):499-504. [Portuguese]
[3]Deptartment of Health. Guidelines for recording and classifying causes of death. 2013.
[4]Maudsley G, Williams L. Death certification—a sad state of affairs. J Public Health Med. 1994;16(3):370-1.
[5]Nojilana B, Groenewald P, Bradshaw D, Reagon G. Quality of cause of death certification at an academic hospital in Cape Town, South Africa. S Afr Med J. 2009;99(9):648-52.
[6]Myers KA, Farquhar DR. Improving the accuracy of death certification. CMAJ. 1998;158(10):1317-23.
[7]MacIntyre CR, Ackland MJ, Chandraraj EJ, Pilla JE. Accuracy of ICD–9–CM codes in hospital morbidity data, Victoria: implications for public health research. Aust N Z J Public Health. 1997;21(5):477-82.
[8]National Forensics Organization. Principles and basics of medical death certification training. 2017.
[9]Khosravi A, Agha Mohammadi S, Kazemi E. Guide program of registration and classification of causes of death. Tehran: Ministry of Health and Medical Education; 2015. [Persian]
[10]Becker DP, Gade GF, Miller JD. Prognosis after head injury .In: Winn HR, Youmans JR, editors. Youmans neurological surgery. Volume 3. Philadelphia: WB Sanders; 2004. p. 2164-216.
[11]Helmreich RL. On error management: lessons from aviation. BMJ. 2000;320(7237):781-5.
[12]Weiser TG, Regenbogen SE, Thompson KD, Haynes AB, Lipsitz SR, Berry WR, et al. An estimation of the global volume of surgery: a modelling strategy based on available data. Lancet. 2008;372(9633):139-44.
[13]Ronsmans C, Graham WJ, group LMSSs. Maternal mortality: who, when, where, and why. lancet. 2006;368(9542):1189-200.
[14]Bickler SW, Sanno-Duanda B. Epidemiology of paediatric surgical admissions to a government referral hospital in the Gambia. Bull World Health Organ. 2000;78(11):1330-6.
[15]Kable A, Gibberd R, Spigelman A. Adverse events in surgical patients in Australia. Int J Qual Health Care. 2002;14(4):269-76.
[16]Mattke S, Epstein AM, Leatherman S. The OECD health care quality indicators project: history and background. Int J Qual Health Care. 2006;18(suppl1):1-4.
[17]McConkey SJ. Case series of acute abdominal surgery in rural Sierra Leone. World J Surg. 2002;26(4):509-13.
[18]Ouro-Bang'na Maman A, Tomta K, Ahouangbevi S, Chobli M. Deaths associated with anaesthesia in Togo, West Africa. Trop Doct. 2005;35(4):220-2.
[19]Yii M, Ng K. Risk‐adjusted surgical audit with the POSSUM scoring system in a developing country. Br J Surg. 2002;89(1):110-3.
[20]Keyvan Ara M, Zardooei S, Karimi S, Saghaiyannejad Esfahani S. Quality of death certificates issued in educational and non-teaching hospitals of Kermanshah. Health Inf Manag. 2011;8(1):23-32. [Persian]
[21]Ben Khelil M, Kamel M, Lahmar S, Mrabet A, Borsali NF, Hamdoun M. Death certificate accuracy in a Tunisian Emergency Department. Tunis Med. 2017;95(6):422-8.
[22]Burger EH, Van der Merwe L, Volmink J. Errors in the completion of the death notification form. S Afr Med J. 2007;97(11):1077-81.
[23]Meraji M, Barabadi M. Errors in the documentation of the death certificate: a case study. J Health Biomed Inf. 2015;2(3):168-75. [Persian]
[24]Hayavi Haghighi M, Khorami F, Alipour J, Dehghani M. The impact of errors in completing death certificat e on coding, underlying the cause of death in Shahid Mohammadi Hospital of Bandarabbas. J Health Admin. 2013;15(50):76-84. [Persian]
[25]Cheng TJ, Lee FC, Lin SJ, Lu TH. Improper cause-of-death statements by specialty of certifying physician: a cross-sectional study in two medical centres in Taiwan. BMJ Open. 2012;2(4):e001229.
[26]Rangraz Jeddi F, Ahmadi M, Sadoughi F, Gohari MR. Precision and accuracy of death certification data in Kashan Shahid Beheshti Hospital. Health Inf Manag. 2010;7(2):12-5.[Persian]
[27]Qaddumi JA, Nazzal Z, Yacoup AR, Mansour M. Quality of death notification forms in North West Bank/Palestine: a descriptive study. BMC Res Notes. 2017;10(1):154.
[28]Rezvani Ardestani SF, Shahnavazi H, Ghorbani M. Survey on the accuracy of death certificated issued with WHO Standards & ICD10 Mortality codes in Sina hospital in Tehran in the second half of 2013. Iran J Forensic Med. 2015;21(2):99-106. [Persian]
[29]Mostafazadeh B, Kamaloddini MH, Najari F. Study of death certificates and burial permit with the criteria of the world health organization and the ministry of health and medical education in Tehran during 2013-2014: brief report. Tehran Univ Med J. 2017;75(6):457-62. [Persian]
[30]Maharjan L, Shah A, Shrestha KB, Shrestha G. Errors in cause-of-death statement on death certificates in intensive care unit of Kathmandu, Nepal. BMC Health Serv Res. 2015;15(1):507.
[31]Lamoochi P, Aalipour E, Behresi HM. Correlation causes of death in death certificates of Ahvaz Aboozar hospital in 2009 and March to September 2010. Jentashapir Health Res. 2013;4(3):271-6. [Persian]
[32]Shokrizadeh Arani L, Karami M. Physicians' and Clinical Coders' Knowledge about Cause of Death Rules for Death Certification in Hospitals Affiliated to Kashan University of Medical Sciences. Iran J Med Educ. 2010;10(1):19-26. [Persian]
[33]Yousefinejad V, Sohrabi M, Mohammadzadeh P. Coordination of the causes of deaths recorded in death certificates issued in Sanandaj hospitals with ICD10 codes during 2015-2017. Iran J Forensic Med. 2018;24(3):211-7. [Persian]
[34]Washirasaksiri C, Raksasagulwong P, Chouriyagune C, Phisalprapa P, Srivanichakorn W. Accuracy and the factors influencing the accuracy of death certificates completed by first-year general practitioners in Thailand. BMC Health Serv Res. 2018;18(1):478.