Is it possible to improve the autopsy rate?

To improve the autopsy rate in a department of internal medicine, the method reported by Clayton and Sivak in 1992 was simplified and applied for a 12 month period, from January through December 1993. The basic principle of this method is involvement of the senior resident staff and supervision of the project by the head and deputy head of the department, on a daily basis. A simple form was designed for this purpose and was completed for each case. Results were compared with those between the same months in 1992. An increase in the autopsy rate from 1.8% in 1992 to 26.7% during the trial period in 1993 was noted.