© 1993 Faculty of Public Health Medicine of the Royal Colleges of Physicians of the United Kingdom
research-article |
Death certification by House Officers and General Practitioners — practice and performance
Gillian Maudsley, Registrar in Public Health Medicine
E. M. I. Williams, Senior Lecturer in Public Health
Department of Public Health, Whelan Building, University of Liverpool P.O. Box 147, Liverpool L69 3BX.
Address correspondence to Dr G. Maudsley
The objective of this study was to assess the knowledge, attitudes and behaviour of House Officers and General Practitioners (GPs) in relation to death certification, to determine the scope for future intervention. A postal questionnaire was used to survey all House Officers (174) and a 10 per cent random sample of GPs (131) in Mersey Region. The main outcome measures were: death certification experience; knowledge, attitudes and behaviour in relation to data uses and coding; and acceptability of Cause of Death statements. Response rates were comparable -119/174 House Officers (68.4 per cent) and 95/131 GPs (72.5 per cent). Most House Officers (78.8 per cent) and GPs (85.3 per cent) reported that they made the best possible Cause of Death statement but, respectively, 62.4 per cent and 59.3 per cent of these might modify a statement in some circumstances. Significantly more House Officers (70.3 per cent) than GPs (44.2 per cent) acknowledged room for improvement and were amenable to more training (86.6 per cent versus 52.5 per cent), but significantly fewer felt sufficiently instructed (23.7 per cent versus 52.6 per cent). Most respondents (>90 per cent) considered accurate death certification important, but 46.2 per cent of House Officers had not read the death certificate book instructions. Knowledge was variable, especially concerning Underlying Cause of Death. Written Cause of Death statements were broadly similar in style and standard between groups. Experience did not appear to improve death certification practice.
Better and co-ordinated undergraduate and early postgraduate education (which should be continuing and audited), and practical accessible guidance on death certificate completion, might improve standards of practice and performance within the existing framework. Alternative methods of presenting guidance on death certificate completion should be explored.
CiteULike 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  G. Mooney Diagnostic Spaces: Workhouse, Hospital, and Home in Mid-Victorian London Social Science History, September 1, 2009; 33(3): 357 - 390. [Abstract] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 K. A. Myers and D. Eden Death duties: Workshop on what family physicians are expected to do when patients die Can Fam Physician, June 1, 2007; 53(6): 1035 - 1038. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 J. C. Zevallos, P. Huang, M. Smoot, K. Condon, and C. Alo Usefulness of Tobacco Check Boxes on Death Certificates: Texas, 1987-1998 Am J Public Health, September 1, 2004; 94(9): 1610 - 1613. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 B Swift and K West Death certification: an audit of practice entering the 21st century J. Clin. Pathol., April 1, 2002; 55(4): 275 - 279. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 C S Thomson, D J Hole, C J Twelves, D H Brewster, and R J Black Prognostic factors in women with breast cancer: distribution by socioeconomic status and effect on differences in survival J Epidemiol Community Health, May 1, 2001; 55(5): 308 - 315. [Abstract] [Full Text]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 G. Maudsley, J. L Hutton, and P. O D Pharoah Cause of death in cerebral palsy: a descriptive study Arch. Dis. Child., November 1, 1999; 81(5): 390 - 394. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 The falling mortality from coronary heart disease: a clinicopathological perspective Heart, August 1, 1998; 80(2): 121 - 126. [Abstract] [Full Text]
|
|