Mental Findings in Trauma Victims

Introduction: In medico-legal evaluation of trauma patients, the bio-psychological effects of the trauma and the severity of the injuries require to be evaluated. In this study, assuming the fact that psychiatric assessment are not taken into consideration in physical trauma cases, we have planned to bring up the presence of psychological trauma in our medico-legally evaluated patients due to different types of traumas and review the mental findings and diagnoses in trauma victims

Compassion fatigue among forensic medicine specialists in Turkiye: A cross-sectional study

Compassion fatigue explains the reduced caregiving capacity of healthcare workers as a consequence of repeated exposure to patients' suffering. It is aimed to evaluate compassion fatigue and factors affecting this situation in forensic medicine specialists who evaluate cases that are victims of permanent trauma due to their profession. Data collection forms including demographic data and a short compassion fatigue scale (SCFS) in healthcare workers were filled out online by volunteer forensic experts. 113 forensic experts participated. It was determined that participants' total SCFS score average was 36.86±21.01, secondary trauma sub-dimension average was 12.39±7.74, occupational burnout sub-dimension average was 24.47±14.52. The total mean score of SCFS of the participants who evaluated less sexual assault was statistically significantly higher. The total mean score of SCFS and the mean of occupational burnout sub-dimension of the participants who did autopsy were found to be statistically significantly lower. The occupational burnout sub-dimension average of those who performed autopsy above the monthly autopsy median value was found to be statistically significantly lower. Sub-dimension average of burnout of participants in the first five years of their professional life was found to be statistically significantly higher. It is noteworthy that total and sub-dimension average scores of forensic medicine specialists in Turkey are significantly lower than those of different professions, especially health workers, in different countries. While this may be an indication that occupational depersonalization has developed over the years among forensic medicine specialists in Turkey, especially those who evaluate autopsy and sexual assault cases, from a different perspective, it can be said that increasing professional experience and working in harmony with the education received have a positive effect on compassion fatigue and burnout. [Med-Science 2023; 12(4.000): 1099-106

Revision of the medicolegal assessment criteria in hypovolemic patients

Trauma scoring systems are often used for the determination of the severity level of the lesion and the clinical status in medico-legal assessment of the trauma patient. Trauma scoring systems are used also for the determination of the life-threatening conditions. Blood loss of more than 20% was reported as the only criterion for life-threatening conditions in the acute hypovolemia. The objective of this study was to revise the medico-legal assessment criteria in the patients with acute hypovolemia and to discuss other parameters, which might be used in the determination of the severity level of the clinical status.The medical reports of the patients with acute hypovolemia due to the trauma, which were sent by the judicial authorities and by other departments of our medical faculty to the department of the forensic medicine between 1999 and 2009, were evaluated. The characteristics such as age, gender, severity of the injury, type of the trauma, history of liquid replacement or blood transfusion, vital signs, type of the physical injury, injured region of the body, presence of any chronic disease were assessed and recorded.The mean age of the included 155 patients was 34.7016.08 years (3-87 years). 118 (76%) of patients were males and 37 females (24%). Regarding the event types, road accidents were the most common cause (60.0%) and it was followed by sharp object injuries (18.7%) and firearm injuries (11.6%). 27.7% of the subjects received 2 units blood and blood products transfusion and 21.3% only 1 unit transfusion. According to the results of the medico-legal assessment, 84.5% of the patients had life-threatening conditions.While evaluating the severity of the clinical conditions in the hypovolemic patients, to report only the losses in percentage causes problems and limitations. Therefore, in respect of the medico-legal assessment of the hypovolemic patients, we believe that it would be more appropriate to use the physiological trauma scoring systems (like Revised Trauma Score) instead of the anatomic scoring systems