title: Impact of documentation errors on accuracy of cause of death coding in an educational hospital in Southern Iran.
abstract: Accurate cause of death coding leads to organised and usable death information but there are some factors that influence documentation on death certificates and therefore affect the coding. We reviewed the role of documentation errors on the accuracy of death coding at Shahid Mohammadi Hospital (SMH), Bandar Abbas, Iran. We studied the death certificates of all deceased patients in SMH from October 2010 to March 2011. Researchers determined and coded the underlying cause of death on the death certificates according to the guidelines issued by the World Health Organization in Volume 2 of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Health Related Problems-10th revision (ICD-10). Necessary ICD coding rules (such as the General Principle, Rules 1-3, the modification rules and other instructions about death coding) were applied to select the underlying cause of death on each certificate. Demographic details and documentation errors were then extracted. Data were analysed with descriptive statistics and chi square tests. The accuracy rate of causes of death coding was 51.7%, demonstrating a statistically significant relationship (p=.001) with major errors but not such a relationship with minor errors. Factors that result in poor quality of Cause of Death coding in SMH are lack of coder training, documentation errors and the undesirable structure of death certificates.
authors.affiliation: Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences, IRAN.
authors.forename: Mohammad Hosein Hayavi
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Haghighi
authors.affiliation: Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences Southern Resalat, Bandar Abbas, IRAN.
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dehghani
authors.affiliation: Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences, IRAN.
authors.forename: Saeid Hoseini
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Teshnizi
authors.affiliation: Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences, IRAN.
authors.forename: Hamid
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mahmoodi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002423:Cause of Death; D059019:Clinical Coding / Q000592:standards*; D003644:Death Certificates; D005260:Female; D006753:Hospital Records; D006784:Hospitals, Teaching; D006801:Humans; D038801:International Classification of Diseases; D007492:Iran; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D014944:World Health Organization