Death certification by doctors in non-metropolitan Victoria

Abstract

Objective: To examine the completeness and accuracy of death certification by general practitioners, specialists and resident medical officers (RMOs) in non-metropolitan Victoria.

Design: An examination of the death certificates written by a representative sample of community and hospital doctors and comparison with the clinical history.

Setting: The Ballarat statistical district.

Results: Eighteen percent of the death certificates at initial assessment, were unsatisfactory (the percentage for those written by RMOs were significantly higher). After review of the clinical record, 27% of certificates were found to inaccurately represent the cause of death, (again the percentage for RMOs was higher) Eighteen percent of certificates required a change of code.

Conclusion: Monitoring the health of the public relies in part on information gained from death certificates. It is thus of concern that such a high percentage of death certificates are inaccurate to the extent that they are incorrectly coded. Consideration should be given to new educational initiatives and to the promotion of the existing toll free telephone advice service to doctors.