title: Errors in filling WHO death certificate in children: lessons from 1251 death certificates.
abstract: Our objective was to identify the frequency and types of various pediatric death certification errors. All available death certificates (n = 1424, from January to December 2005 and from January to July 2007) were retrieved from medical record library in a tertiary pediatric hospital. These were analyzed retrospectively (66%) and prospectively (34%) for the year 2005 and 2007, respectively. Only 11% of death certificates were filled accurately. In the remaining 89%, the total number of errors ranged from 0-5 per death certificate. The most common major and minor errors were "improper sequencing" (50.3%) and "absence of time interval" (74.7%), respectively. The combination of major and minor errors was observed in 51.9% of the certificates. The frequency of errors was significantly less in prospective data as compared with retrospective data (p < 0.05). Given the high rate of errors, there is an urgent need to design relevant training programs to streamline this dismal situation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neonatology, Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi 110002, India.
authors.forename: Neeraj
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Gupta
authors.forename: Bhavneet
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bharti
authors.forename: Sunit
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Singhi
authors.forename: Praveen
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.forename: J S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Thakur
mesh_terms: D002423:Cause of Death; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003644:Death Certificates; D004282:Documentation / Q000592:standards*; D005260:Female; D005568:Forms and Records Control / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014944:World Health Organization
keywords: cause of death; death certificate; errors; pediatric death certification; pediatrics