ArticleBMC health services research2018
Accuracy and the factors influencing the accuracy of death certificates completed by first-year general practitioners in Thailand.
Article in BMC health services research, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed.
- Structural, economic, and socio-cultural barriers to birth and death registration in Iran: a qualitative study.International journal for equity in health · 2025Article
- Quality of reporting death certificates during COVID-19 in All India Institute of Medical Sciences of central India.Journal of family medicine and primary care · 2025Article
- Assessment of errors in death certification and mortality patterns and trends among medical patients at Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, 2019-2023.Ghana medical journal · 2025Article
- Accuracy of information on the underlying cause of death: An analysis in Colombia during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021.PloS one · 2025Article
- Territorial gaps on quality of causes of death statistics over the last forty years in Spain.BMC public health · 2024Article
- "Do we register our deaths?": Motivations and barriers to death registration in Ghana.PloS one · 2024Article
- Medical Students' Knowledge of the Cause-of-Death Certification: A Descriptive, Cross-Sectional Study from Saudi Arabia.International journal of general medicine · 2021Article
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5 authors.
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Abstract
backgroundAlthough death certificates (DCs) provide valuable health information which may help to guide local health policies and priorities, there is little information concerning their validity in Thailand. First-year general practitioners (GPs) have a major role in DC completion, especially in provincial general hospitals. The aim of this study was to evaluate the accuracy and factors influencing the accuracy of DCs completed by first-year GPs in Thailand, compared with the cause of death (COD) derived from medical records by experts.
methodsThis retrospective study was conducted at 14 provincial general hospitals in Thailand during the June 2011 to May 2012 study period. Medical records and DCs completed by first-year GPs who graduated from 16 Thai medical schools were sampled. The cause of death recorded on the DCs was compared with the medical conditions and histories derived from patient medical records. A cross-sectional survey of the 210 GPs who completed the DCs reviewed in this study was also conducted. Respondent GPs' demographic characteristics, factors associated with COD, and COD coding system were evaluated.
resultsFive hundred and sixty-three medical records and corresponding DCs were included. Of those, 36.9% of DCs were found to be correct. Common mistakes included incorrect sequence of events leading to death (32.4%), and mode of death use (26.2%). Of the 210 GPs, 155 questionnaires were completed and returned. The mean time spent on recording COD and completing DCs in the medical school curriculum was 2.1 ± 0.9 h and only 27.7% of participants had experience in completing DCs by themselves during medical school. Mean medical school GPA was significantly higher in the correctly completed DC GPs group than in the incorrectly completed DC GPs group (3.3 ± 0.4 vs. 3.2 ± 0.3; p = 0.03). However, no significant difference was found for other factors associated with COD between groups.
conclusionsThis is the first study documenting gaps and disparities in DC accuracy, and factors influencing completion of DCs among first-year GPs in Thailand, based on a clinical assessment of medical records. GPs made errors on 63.1% of DCs. This finding suggests that proven education, system-related support, and additional training interventions specific to DC completion are required.
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