Getting all the facts of death

Elsie H Burger; Jimmy Volmink

Getting all the facts of death

Elsie H Burger University of Stellenbosch
Jimmy Volmink University of Stellenbosch

Keywords: Mortality, Cause of Death, Death notification, death certification, epidemiology, vital statistics, Documentation/standards

Abstract

We conducted a study of death notification form (DNF) completion in 844 Cape Town residents, evaluating the completeness of information on the forms. The DNF’s frequently lacked important data on the deceased as well as the completing health professional. Urgent intervention is needed to improve the usefulness of the DNF as a source of health statistics in South Africa.

Author Biographies

Elsie H Burger, University of Stellenbosch

MB ChB, FC for Path, MMed Forens Path Senior Specialist Department of Pathology

Jimmy Volmink, University of Stellenbosch

BSc, MB ChB, DCH, MPH, DPhil Deputy Dean: Research Faculty of Health Sciences

Getting the Facts of Death Appendix

Published

2009-04-25

Issue

Vol 51, No 3 - May/June 2009

Section

Scientific letters

By submitting manuscripts to SAFP, authors of original articles are assigning copyright to the South African Academy of Family Physicians. Copyright of review articles are assigned to the Publisher, Medpharm Publications (Pty) Ltd, unless otherwise specified. Authors may use their own work after publication without written permission, provided they acknowledge the original source. Individuals and academic institutions may freely copy and distribute articles published in SAFP for educational and research purposes without obtaining permission.