Article Sidebar
Published:
Jan 22, 2008Article Details
Copyright remains in the Author’s name. The work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution - Noncommercial Works License. Authors are required to complete and sign an Author Agreement form that outlines Author and Publisher rights and terms of publication. The Agreement form should be uploaded along with other submissions files and any submission will be considered incomplete without it [forthcoming].
Material submitted for publication in the SAMJ is accepted provided it has not been published or submitted for publication elsewhere. Please inform the editorial team if the main findings of your paper have been presented at a conference and published in abstract form, to avoid copyright infringement. The SAMJ does not hold itself responsible for statements made by the authors.
Previously published images
If an image/figure has been previously published, permission to reproduce or alter it must be obtained by the authors from the original publisher and the figure legend must give full credit to the original source. This credit should be accompanied by a letter indicating that permission to reproduce the image has been granted to the author/s. This letter should be uploaded as a supplementary file during submission.
Main Article Content
Death Notification Form Errors
Abstract
Objectives: To determine the frequency of errors in the cause of death sequence and to assess the completeness of information recorded on Death Notification Forms (DNF\'s).
Design: A population-based descriptive study.
Setting: All residents of two residential areas in the Cape Town metropole, who died during the period 1 June 2003 to 31 May 2004.
Methods: We examined DNF\'s for pre-specified major and minor errors, and assessed potential predictors of major errors using multivariate analysis. We also assessed the DNF\'s for completeness in terms of particulars of the deceased, the informant and the health professional certifying death.
Results: 844 DNF\'s were evaluated. Errors were found in 91.7% of DNF\'s and 43.4% had at least one major error, of which an illogical cause of death sequence was most common. Factors that seemed to affect the frequency of major errors were the number of lines of the cause of death sequence that had been completed, the age, gender and area of residence of the deceased, and the type of facility where the DNF had been completed. Varying levels of completeness were found for different items of information with some questions such as the education, occupation, usual business and smoking history of deceased being largely ignored by health professionals.
Conclusion: Our findings have far-reaching implications for mortality and health-related information in South Africa. Educational, managerial and administrative interventions are urgently needed to improve the standard of DNF completion.
South African Medical Journal Vol. 97 (11) 2007: pp. 1077-1081
