'Reengineering' U.S. death data collection: the technology and labour behind electronic death registration

Area of Science:

• Public Health Informatics
• Health Information Systems
• Vital Statistics

Background:

• Historically, death registration faced challenges with slow processing and data inaccuracies.
• Electronic Death Registration Systems (EDRS) were developed in the US to modernize vital statistics collection.
• Officials aimed to reengineer the death reporting process for improved efficiency and data integrity.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the data entry labor demands associated with EDRS implementation.
• To analyze the techno-solutionist approach in framing EDRS as a dual-solution tool.
• To investigate how EDRS design and implementation addressed historical challenges in death registration.

Main Methods:

• Qualitative analysis of EDRS development and implementation.
• Examination of the techno-solutionist framing of EDRS.
• Exploration of the perceived affordances and actual outcomes of EDRS.

Main Results:

• EDRS implementation faced sluggishness due to flawed optimism regarding their capabilities.
• The dual affordances of EDRS (speed and accuracy) were overestimated.
• Data entry labor demands were a significant, often underestimated, factor in implementation.

Conclusions:

• Techno-solutionism in EDRS design led to an underestimation of implementation challenges.
• The pursuit of simultaneous improvements in data entry ease and integrity proved optimistic.
• Further research is needed on the practical labor demands of health information systems.