Abstract

Introduction: Background: Audited information on the causes of death is one of the basic components of a country’s health information system. Data are usually derived from death certificates. A critical analysis of Ras-Al-Kheimah (RAK) hospitals’ death certification was done establish the quality of care. Such an audit is simple, cheap, and useful for monitoring the quality of services. Objective: To determine the accuracy of death certification by doctors in the RAK Hospital. Method: Second year medical students were assigned to collect copies of death certificates as a part of their assignment from a prominent RAK hospital. They were divided into two groups. A lecture on death certification was delivered prior to the students going to the hospital. Students examined the certificates, and the results were displayed. Results: Fifty-one death certificates were collected from the RAK hospital. A majority 36 (70.58%) of them were for males, and their mean age was 42 years. There were 14 females (29.41%) in this study. About half (49%) of them were foreigners from 14 different countries. Cardiac failure was the commonest (70.58%) cause of death, followed by respiratory failure (11.76%). Conclusion: Cardio-respiratory failure as a cause of death was found in the majority (82.34%) of cases as per the death certificates from the RAK hospital.

• 1.   Meel B. An erroneous opinion on a cause of death in a forensic autopsy: a case report. African Health Sciences 2017; 17(4):2346-1249.
• 2.   Meel B. Certification of deaths at Umtata General Hospital, South Africa. J Clin Forensic Med.2003; 10(1):13-5.
• 3.   Kirk MG, Dada MA. Incorrect completion of death certificates. SAMJ, 2000 May; 90(5): 448-449.
• 4.   World Health Organization (WHO). International statistical classification of diseases and health related problems. Tenth revision, Volume 1. Geneva 1992.
• 5.   Republic of South Africa. Birth and death registration Act. Section 15 of Act No. 51 of 1992.
• 6.   Hanzlick R. Improving accuracy of death certificates (letter). JAMA 1993; 269:2850.
• 7.   Van der Merwe S, Yach D, Metcalf 0 CA. Peering into the black hole - the quality of black mortality data in Port Elizabeth and the rest of South Africa. SAMJ 1991; 79:419-422.
• 8.   Kielowski D, Steinberg M, Barron PM. Life after death - mortality statistics and the public health. SAMJ 1989; 76:672-675.
• 9.   King MB. AIDS on the death certificate: the final stigma. BMJ 1989; 298:734-736.
• 10.   Maudsley G, Williams EM. Death certification by house officers and general practitioners-practice and performance. J Public Health Med 1993; 15(2):192-201.
• 11.   Bradshaw D, Kielkowski D, Sitas F. New births, and death registration forms - a foundation for the future, a challenge for health workers? SAMJ 1998; 88:971-974.
• 12.   Jordan JM, Bass MJ. Errors in death certificates completion in a teaching hospital. Clin Invest Med 1993; 16(4):249-55.
• 13.   Hodgson NF, Stewart TC, Girotti MJ. Autopsy and death certificate in deaths due to blunt trauma. What are we missing? Can J Surg 2000 April; 43(2):130-6.
• 14.   Roberts IS, Gorodkin LM, Benbow EW. What is natural cause of death? J of Clin Pathol 2000 May; 53(5):367-73.
• 15.   Lomas J, Anderson GM, DomnickPierre K, Vayda E, Enkin MW, Hanna WJ. Do practice guidelines guide practice? The effect of a consensus statement on the practice of physicians. N Eng J Med 1989; 321:1306-11.

Data Sharing Statement

Funding