Evalution of sixth grade medical students' and residents' knowledges, attitudes and thoughts regarding judical reports

Forensic report is an official paper submitted to state offices documenting medical situation of a person and opinion of the physician. Mistakes in forensic report writing may lead to irreversible results and delays in forensic practices and also may result in legal liability for the physician. The aim of this study was to evaluate and compare the knowledge, attitudes, and views of the residents and the final-grade medical students (FGMS) at Dicle University Medical School regarding forensic reports. The study had a cross sectional descriptive research design and was approved by the local ethics committee and a written consent was obtained from each participant. The study included 175 residents and 94 FGMS and participants were administered a 28-item questionnaire. Data were analysed using SPSS 22.0. The results revealed that 94% of residents and 100% of FGMS regarded themselves as incompetent in forensic medicine. It was also revealed that 89% of residents didn't receive any forensic medicine education after graduation, whereas 65% of residents and 73% of FGMS declared that they were willing to receive forensic medicine education. Moreover, 30% of residents and 77% of FGMS indicated that they had no information regarding the legal liability of forensic reports and 34% of residents and 73% of stated that they had no information regarding the effectivity of forensic reports on legal proceedings. On the other hand, 62% of residents and 58% of FGMS declared that forensic proceedings made them anxious, 94% of residents and 95% of FGMS stated that there was a need for establishing special physician groups for forensic proceedings. Fifty one percentage of residents and 47% of FGMS suggested that the number of forensic medicine specialists should be increased as a solution. As a result, most of the physicians and FGMS consider themselves as incompetent in forensic medicine which requires medical and legal liability. Pre-graduation forensic medicine education should be improved and also post-graduation education programs should be designed. KEY WORDS: Forensic Report, Resident, Final Grade Medical Student, Forensic Medicine Education, Post-Graduation Education.