Assessment of emergency physicians’ competency towards notification, documentation, and evidence collection in medico-legal cases: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Abstract Background Emergency departments (ED) are often the first place in hospitals where medicolegal (ML) cases are handled, underscoring the need for emergency physicians (EP) to identify and manage such cases. This study evaluated EPs’ practices regarding notification of legal authorities, documentation, and evidence collection in suspected ML cases. The study aimed to identify attitudes of EP regarding the management of these cases and the factors associated with high-quality practices. This cross-sectional study used a validated questionnaire distributed to EP working at a tertiary university emergency hospital. The questionnaire included questions about demographics, previous experience, workload, notification of legal authorities, documentation, evidence collection, and expectations and needs of EP when dealing with emergency ML cases. Results Most EP reported receiving limited training in ML report writing (70.41%), use of photography equipment (90.82%), and evidence collection protocols (85.71%). All respondents expressed a need for additional training programs on handling ML cases in emergencies. The majority believed that the residency (71.43%) and postgraduate (54.08%) stages were the best for such programs. Most EP (82.7%) had a poor level of practice. Practice level was significantly linked to workload ( p = 0.006), specialty ( p = 0.009), prior forensic training ( p = 0.016), training in ML report writing ( p = 0.013), photographic documentation ( p < 0.001), and evidence collection ( p < 0.001). According to linear regression analysis, the strongest predictors of good practice were training in report writing and evidence collection. Conclusions Among EP dealing with ML cases, most of the EP exhibited a poor level of practice yet had a positive attitude toward dealing with such cases. Implementing standardized forensic medicine training programs during residency and postgraduate training is essential to improve proper handling of ML cases in emergency settings.