proposed death certificate form

proposed death certificate form ahangarzade rezaee s* received: 16 july, 2010 accepted: 25oct, 2010 abstract background & aims: health is the most important issue for the development of social justice in all developing countries. human life is strongly linked to accidents, injuries, and diseases that cause millions of deaths annually in the world. death record information is obtained through death certificate forms. the present study was conducted to revise the existing death certificate. materials & methods: this was a review study. the data were collected by searching on the internet and accessed more than fourteen countries death certificate forms. all forms were studied and the most complete form was selected and then compared with that of iran. eventually the proposed format of death certificate form was created. results: the findings showed that the american form was the most complete form. accordingly, the proposed format of death certificate form was designed and developed. to achieve more complete information, some new items were added to the general profile of the deceased, the address of the deceased, death cause, and burial permit. conclusion: cause-of-death data were used to identify health priorities, allocation of resources, planning interventional programs, and assessment and monitoring health problems. in order for an accurate registration of deaths and diseases in society, it is necessary to fill a complete death certificate form. it is hoped that forensic medicine organization in the country uses the proposed form and helps country managers to provide policies to improve public health. keywords: death certificate form, diseases, health problems address: urmia nursing and midwifery faculty, urmia university of medical sciences, urmia, iran tel: (+98)441-2752378 e-mail: [email protected]