[Study on the quality of death-case-reporting-system in county and above levels' medical institutions in 2004].
OBJECTIVE
To study the quality of reporting network system on death cases among county and above levels' medical institutions.


METHODS
Data on variables related to county reporting rate, unit reporting rate, timeliness of reporting, eligibility rate of reporting, auditing rate, timeliness of auditing, eligibility rate of auditing, percentage of reporting deaths of medical institutes to deaths among total population, percentage of reporting deaths of county and above levels' medical institutes to deaths among estimated deaths at these institutes were collected and distribution of common coding errors was applied to the assessment of reporting deaths.


RESULTS
The total reporting rates were: 82.58% at the county level, 42.79% at the units with auditing rate as 96.96%. The eligibility rate of reporting was 69.10% with eligibility rate of auditing as 73.58%. The percentage of reporting deaths from medical institutes to deaths among total population was 8.91%, and the percentage of reporting deaths of county and above levels' medical institutes to deaths among estimated deaths of these institutes was 30.76%. The percentage of obvious coding errors among deaths reported by county and above levels' medical institutes was as high as 22.87%.


CONCLUSIONS
Network reporting system of death cases among county and above levels' medical institutes had remarkably increased the timeliness of data reporting system. Network reporting of data on death was the best opportunity to expand the coverage and to improve the quality of data reporting. Based on network reporting of death cases among county and above levels' medical institutes as well as deaths accrued at the communities should also be reported via this network in the eligible areas. The quality of coding on death causes among medical institutes were commonly poor, indicating that the training on ascertainment and coding of underlying death causes were quite essential.
Zhou
Mai-geng
MG
National Center for Public Health Surveillance and Information Service, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing 100050, China.
Wang
Yu-ying
YY
Ge
Hui
H
Wang
Li-jun
LJ
Ma
Jia-qi
JQ
Yang
Gong-huan
GH
D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D003644:Death Certificates; D005568:Forms and Records Control / Q000592:standards; D006268:Health Facilities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D009026:Mortality; D011786:Quality Control