Background: Data related to forensic postmortems or autopsies are still mainly captured in hard copy format and archived. This paper-based practice impacts on the practitioner's ability to report on incidence, prevalence, and statistical trends related to cases that are commonly seen in mortuaries in forensic medicine. An autopsy can be used to inform and provide evidence-based knowledge for further research about important issues, including social development and assist in providing statistics and data for public health initiatives for implementation and monitoring. Currently, in forensic medicine and pathology research developments are largely hampered by the inefficient data capturing system which only allows access to basic information while pertinent information is largely recorded manually and is therefore difficult to obtain. There is thus a need to improve the efficiency of the data capturing system in forensic pathology, and this review is intended to inform the choice and decisions of appropriate data capture practices and is being conducted to identify nationally and internationally the current data mining and storage systems in place. Methods: The methodology for this scoping review will be guided by the methodological framework for scoping review. The search strategy was developed by the authors, and we will conduct a search from 1 January 2008 of electronic databases (Cochrane Library, Scopus, Web of Science, and Science Direct) and search through WorldCat and PubMed for citations and literature using both keywords and the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH).The electronic search will be supplemented by hand searching references of the included studies and references in journals and websites. All articles will be assessed for eligibility by two reviewers (the primary and secondary authors) and uploaded into EndNote Excel spreadsheet, and duplicates will be identified and removed. The two reviewers (primary and secondary authors) will screen the eligible abstracts and articles against the inclusion criteria, and selection will be on a minimum percentage agreement of 50%. The selection process will be documented by following and using a PRISMA flow diagram. The extracted data will be analyzed and reported in the form of a narrative review with descriptive analysis and text analysis once the data is summarized for description and characterization.
Background Forensic and legal medicine requires all documentation to be recorded in a manner that is admissible in court. Issues surrounding privacy, confidentiality, and security mar the implementation of electronic document systems in medicine. Awareness of current legislature governing record keeping and electronic documentation especially in modern medicine and forensic medicine has not been sufficiently explored. This study explored the current South African and international laws that govern admissibility of evidence, especially relating to electronic evidence, for use in court and research, Findings Egypt, UK, Canada and the USA have similar legislation to South Africa regarding admissibility of electronic records. The South African Electronic Communications and Transactions Act no. 25 of 2002 defines data and the Criminal Procedure Act 51 of 1977 further defines the admissibility of evidence in court and the National Health Act regulates publication of deceased information after death. Conclusions Forensic medicine requires all documentation to be admissible in court and the storage of data thus requires proper custodianship and a high level of security, which can be achieved with modern technology. Modern medicine is evolving and technology can create secure and efficient methods of record keeping which will benefit forensic and legal medicine. Knowledge of the laws regarding admissibility of evidence can assist in creating electronic evidence that is permitted in court and can be used for research.
Background The investigation into sudden unexpected and unnatural deaths supports criminal justice, aids in litigation, and provides important information for public health including surveillance, epidemiology, and prevention programs. The use of mortality data to convey trends can inform policy development and resource allocations. Hence, data practices/management systems in Forensic Medicine are critical. This study scoped literature and described the body of knowledge on data management and practice systems in Forensic Medicine. Methods Five steps of the methodological framework of Arksey and O’Malley guided this scoping review. A combination of keywords, Boolean terms, and Medical Subject Headings was used to search PubMed, EBSCOhost (CINAHL with full text and Health Sources), Cochrane Library, Scopus, Web of Science, Science Direct, WorldCat, and Google Scholar from the 18th to 24th of June 2020 and updated in November 2021 for peer review papers. This study included articles involving unnatural deaths, focused on data practice or data management systems, relating to Forensic Medicine, all study designs, and published in English. Screening and selection and data extraction were conducted by two reviews. Thematic analysis was conducted, and the results were reported using both quantitatively and qualitatively. Results Of the 23,059 articles, 16 met this study’s inclusion criteria. The included articles were published between 2008 and 2019. Eight of the 16 articles were published between 2017 and 2019. Most of the included studies were conducted in the USA (5) and Australia/New Zealand (4). Only two publications were from lower- and middle-income countries (Nigeria, Mexico), and the remaining 14 were from high-income countries (Italy, Denmark, USA, Australia, and New Zealand, Japan, Switzerland, Canada). The data management systems found in this study were as follows: Virtopsy, Canadian Coroner and Medical Examiner Database, Infant Injury Database, Fatal injury surveillance system, Medical Examiners and Coroners Alert System, National Violent Deaths Reporting System, AM/PM Database, Tokyo CDISC/ODM, and National Coronial Information System. Conclusions This study’s results revealed limited articles relating to data management and practice systems in Forensic Medicine, particularly in LMICs through literature indicating there is a prevalence of unnatural deaths in LMICs. This study, therefore, recommends research on data management and practice systems relating to forensic medicine in LMICs to inform policy decisions.
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