Table 3

Improper^* and major error^† rates in cause-of-death (COD) statements by specialty of the certifying physician in two medical centres in Tainan, Taiwan, 2009

Specialty of certifying physician	Number of death certificates issued	Improper	Major error
Specialty of certifying physician	Number of death certificates issued	N (%)	N (%)
Nephrology	45	24 (53.3)	12 (26.7)
Infection	65	29 (44.6)	8 (12.3)
Cardiology	125	49 (39.2)	31 (24.8)
Emergency	125	42 (33.6)	22 (17.6)
Others	51	16 (31.4)	11 (21.6)
Neurology	44	13 (29.5)	6 (13.6)
Other internal medicine	62	18 (29.0)	7 (11.3)
Neurosurgery	52	15 (28.8)	0 (0.0)
Paediatrics	56	16 (28.6)	9 (16.1)
Critical care medicine	433	118 (27.3)	54 (12.5)
Gastroenterology	157	42 (26.8)	22 (14.0)
General surgery	161	41 (25.5)	16 (9.9)
Respiratory medicine	115	18 (15.7)	6 (5.2)
Cardiac surgery	34	4 (11.8)	2 (5.9)
Oncology	995	57 (5.7)	29 (2.9)
Total	2520	502 (19.9)	235 (9.3)

↵* Improper denotes a death certificate containing at least one type of improper COD statement.
↵† Major error refers to death certificates that sustain type 3 ‘incorrect causal sequence was reported’ and type 4 ‘only mechanism(s) of death reported’ improper COD statements.