Citation

Betz M, Kelly S, Fisher J. Acad. Emerg. Med. 2007; 14(Suppl 1): S64.

Affiliation

Department of Emergency Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2007, Society for Academic Emergency Medicine, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1197/j.aem.2007.03.875

PMID

17463943

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Death certificates are a common data source for injury research, but their legitimacy depends on proper completion by physicians (MDs). We sought to assess MD accuracy and training in completion of death certificates. METHODS: We tested the ability of 361 MDs at a University hospital to complete a sample death certificate. The test was conducted via an anonymous web-based system. We questioned MDs regarding the type of death certificate instruction they had received. The test included a description of a patient with a death due to intracranial bleeding after a fall, and the MDs completed a mock death certificate.

Language: en