Death certificate errors in three teaching hospitals of Zahedan, southeast of Iran

Abstract

Accurate completion of death certificates is of critical importance for public health policy and statistical purposes. In assessing 936 available death certificates, most contained one or more errors. Minor errors (e.g. absence of time intervals) were more common than major errors (e.g. the use of general terms instead of specific conditions). Providing education, complying with standards established by the World Health Organization, applying quality control of death certificates, and correcting deficient death certificates in the hospitals seem necessary to inform the effectiveness of public health programs, future health policies, quality health planning, and prioritization of health and medical research programs.

Ethical approval

The Ethics Committee of the Deputy of Research and Technology of Zahedan University of Medical Sciences approved this study (Ethical number: IR.ZAUMS.REC.1398.437). No funding was received.

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank the hospital authorities of Ali-ibne-abitaleb, Khatam-ol-anbia and Buali Hospital and in particular, the head of health information management departments for their cooperation in data collection.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).