Death Notification Form Errors

Abstract

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.