A Student Selected Component (or Special Study Module) in Forensic and Legal Medicine: Design, delivery, assessment and evaluation of an optional module as an addition to the medical undergraduate core curriculum

Current status of undergraduate teaching in forensic & legal medicine in Europe

The European Council of Legal Medicine (ECLM) is the body established in 1992 to represent practitioners forensic & legal medicine and is composed of delegates of the countries of the European Union (EU) and from other countries which form part of Europe to a current total of 34 member countries. The aims of this study were to determine the current status of undergraduate forensic & legal medicine teaching in the curriculum of medical studies in ECLM countries and to use the results of this study to determine whether it would be appropriate to develop new guidelines and standards for harmonising the content of undergraduate forensic medicine training across ECLM member countries. A detailed questionnaire was sent to all individuals or organisations listed on the ECLM contact database. Responses were received from 21 of 33 countries on the database. These responses showed considerable emphasis on undergraduate teaching of forensic medicine in all countries with the exception of Belgium and the United Kingdom. There was great general consistency in the subjects taught. The data from this survey provide a baseline which should assist in developing a strategy to harmonise forensic & legal medicine undergraduate training in member countries of the ECLM. The ECLM is now in a good position to establish a pan-European working group to coordinate a consensus document identifying an appropriate and modern core undergraduate forensic medicine curriculum that can be presented to the medical education authorities in each country, and which can be adapted for local requirements, based on available personnel, the forensic medicine structure in the country, and most importantly, the needs of the local population.

A critical review of undergraduate education and teaching in forensic psychiatry

BACKGROUND

Although forensic psychiatry is recognised as a full medical speciality in the UK, training in it is not routinely offered to medical students. With growth both in forensic psychiatry and availability of medical school places, it is a good time to explore the nature and quality of experience already available.

AIMS

1. To map the literature against the guideline for reporting evidence-based practice educational interventions and teaching checklist. 2. To critically review research and scholarship. 3. To identify gaps in evidence-based education for medical students in forensic psychiatry.

METHOD

A systematic search of three bibliographic databases from inception to December 2021 was undertaken using keywords related to medical students and forensic psychiatry between December 2021 and March 2022. The search was supplemented by citation and hand searching.

RESULTS

Eight articles were identified. Collectively, they suggest that education and teaching were implemented at a local level and not linked to theories of learning. Exposure to forensic psychiatry stimulated positive attitudes, which amplified interest in psychiatry. There was insufficient evidence to determine optimal undergraduate education and teaching practice in forensic psychiatry.

CONCLUSIONS

Forensic psychiatry appears to have much to offer the medical undergraduate as part of core learning in psychiatry, including universal skills and knowledge such as ethical decision-making and handling emotions. There appears to be considerable opportunity for education, teaching and research innovation in undergraduate education and teaching in forensic psychiatry. Interesting areas for development include simulated and coproduced education.

An evaluation of Italian medical students attitudes and knowledge regarding forensic medicine

INTRODUCTION

This study aims to assess students' knowledge of forensic medicine concepts and their opinions regarding the course taught during the degree course in Medicine and Surgery in an Italian university. Consequently, the study aims to assess the impact of the course on the students' knowledge and attitude in choosing a medical residency.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A cross-sectional study was conducted through an anonymous web-based survey of medical students at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore. Descriptive and univariate analysis were conducted.

RESULTS

1166 students completed the survey. The forensic medicine course appears to be extremely important in providing training in the fundamental concepts of forensic medicine, especially professional liability, defensive medicine, and forensic pathology. Attending autopsies is important during the course, and their number should be more than ten. Additionally, univariate analysis demonstrates that students' awareness of forensic medicine topics, such as the function of the forensic physicians, professional liability, and defensive medicine, improves in the fifth or sixth year of the course. After the course, more students would choose to pursue a nonclinical and nonsurgical specialty, and forensic medicine specifically, for their residency.

CONCLUSIONS

The forensic medicine course has the task of defining the duties and responsibilities of forensic physicians, providing indispensable tools for future medical practitioners, regardless of their future specialisation, and limiting the increasing use of defensive medicine. In conclusion, we recommend further multicenter studies to evaluate the role and direct effect of undergraduate forensic medicine courses on students and on the quality of practice.

Adventure Legal Medicine: a free online serious game for supplementary use in undergraduate medical education

Serious games (computer-based learning games) are increasingly used in medical education at various levels, as user access is independent of location and time and promotes non-linear learning. In legal medicine, interactive digital media are still scarce. The freely accessible online serious game "Adventure Legal Medicine" was developed as part of the "Hamburg Open Online University". The goal was to teach the basics of forensic casework in a point-and-click adventure setting consisting of five cases. During development, 40 medical students were asked to evaluate the game anonymously. The System Usability Scale (SUS) resulted in a mean score of 86.7 (SD 8.3), which corresponds to above-average usability. Further specific evaluations revealed a good to very good rating of the game with no differences in terms of gender (p = 0.214), first-year versus advanced students (p = 0.393) and students who never/rarely or sometimes/often played computer games (p = 0.780). Since there are only a few digital media so far that allow curricular integration into undergraduate teaching in legal medicine, this serious game represents a possibility to integrate digital media into both face-to-face teaching and distance learning and to use it as a supplement to the medical school's own teaching offer, encouraging users to actively engage with the subject.

Online teaching of forensic medicine and pathology during the COVID-19 pandemic: A course evaluation

As the COVID-19 pandemic progressed in early 2020, social distancing rules and 'lockdowns' brought face-to-face teaching in universities in the UK, and globally, to a halt, leading to an abrupt move to online teaching and learning. This article details student feedback to a course on applied forensic medicine and pathology - framed as 'safeguarding vulnerable patients' - which was adapted for delivery online in response to restrictions imposed by the pandemic. That feedback indicated that the adapted online course was well-received and, overall, it compared favourably with pervious iterations of the blended learning course, which had included a substantial face-to-face teaching component. Students remained engaged with the teaching, and they continued to see the relevance of forensic medicine to their future clinical practice.

LIVE FM (lecture improvised with video elements in forensic medicine): does a video worth a thousand pictures? A comparative study in medical education

Forensic education should be fully conversant with a scientific theory of how students learn. By and large, the traditional model of education is widely accepted. 'Difficult-to-learn' areas in forensic medicine are the challenges to students as well as teachers. An innovative modality 'lectures improvised with video elements' was used by authors in the undergraduate medical education program of Forensic Medicine in order to facilitate active learning. Evaluation of this approach has established a positive impact on student's spatial ability, reasoning ability, and memory skills. Intrinsic cognitive load on working memory was reduced to a certain extent. With compare to the static pictures, video usage significantly helps to comprehend the difficult content of the learning. Students found the experience interesting and very ardent to use it again.

Choose your own murder: Non-linear narratives enhance student understanding in forensic science education

Higher education teaching in the forensic sciences tends to follow a traditional format of lectures followed by practical laboratory sessions. Sometimes this approach is not possible or viewed as not innovative enough. The free, open access software Twine was used with final year undergraduates in forensic and crime scene science in a UK university in order to create an interactive learning experience based around the creation of non-linear stories. Evaluation of this approach demonstrated the positive impact on student understanding when compared to the traditional lecture model. Students found the experience engaging and were keen to use Twine again.