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Does the Application of International Classification of Disease Codes for the Cause of Death on Death Certificates Reduce Garbage Codes?

Introduction: This study aimed to determine if applying International Classification of Diseases (ICD) disease codes directly as the cause of death (COD) on death certificates (DCs) instead of writing or typing the COD could reduce the use of garbage codes. Methods: Beginning in April of 2016, a doc...

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Published in:Inquiry (00469580) pp. 1 - 10
Main Authors: Park, Soobeom, Kim, Sun Hyu
Format: research tables/charts Journal Article
Published: Sage Publications Inc. 4/6/2022
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
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      dt: 4/6/2022
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      pub: Sage Publications Inc.
      place: Thousand Oaks, California
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        10.1177/00469580221081433
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        atl: Does the Application of International Classification of Disease Codes for the Cause of Death on Death Certificates Reduce Garbage Codes?
      aug:
        au:
          Park, Soobeom
          Kim, Sun Hyu
        affil: 48538 Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Ulsan University Hospital, Dong-gu Ulsan, Korea
      sug:
        subj:
          Cause of Death
          International Classification of Diseases
          Coding
          Death Certificates
          Human
      ab: Introduction: This study aimed to determine if applying International Classification of Diseases (ICD) disease codes directly as the cause of death (COD) on death certificates (DCs) instead of writing or typing the COD could reduce the use of garbage codes. Methods: Beginning in April of 2016, a documentation process change was made, retiring the process of hand-writing or typing the COD onto DCs to directly applying ICD disease codes that were registered during the patient's course of treatment. The DCs issued at the emergency department (ED) 1 year before (Pre-code group) and after (Code group) applying ICD disease codes directly on DCs was instituted were retrospectively analyzed. The occurrence of garbage codes along with other major and minor errors was compared between the two groups. The investigation and judgment of errors were performed by four emergency physicians. Results: The overall garbage code occurrence in the Code group (25%) was significantly lower than that in the Pre-code group (49%). Fewer garbage codes were used in the Code group with an average of.5 in the Pre-code group and.3 in the Code group. No significant difference was identified in major error occurrences except for in the garbage codes. Minor errors were more common in the Pre-code group than in the Code group. Conclusion: The overall use of garbage codes on DCs could be reduced by changing the process by which physicians complete DCs, that is, the application of documenting ICD disease codes directly as the COD on DCs.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype:
        research
        tables/charts
        Journal Article
      ougenre: Article
    language: English
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