Date of Award
2001
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Programs for Higher Education
Advisor
Eileen Morrison
Committee Member
Stephen McLeod
Committee Member
Martin B. Parks
Keywords
325th Medical Group, applied dissertation, assessment, committee review, conviction, curriculum design, documentation, emergency health care, emergency medical services, emergency services, evaluation, evidence collection, Family Advocacy Officers, formative evaluation, forensic evidence, forensic science, health-care providers, implementation, intentional injuries, intentional trauma, interviews, Kemp, lawyer, legal conviction, literature review, medical documentation, medical evidence, methodology, military facilities, model training program, Morrison, Officers of Special Investigations, patient care, patients, pilot group, program development, program evaluation, program implementation, prosecution, provider training, research questions, Ross, study recommendations, summative evaluation, technical errors, training objectives, training program, Tyndall Air Force Base, victims of intentional injuries
Abstract
The problem under investigation in this applied dissertation project was that improper evidence collection during the evaluation of patients with intentional injuries often resulted in the inability to support legal conviction. The purpose of the project was to develop a model-training program that would assist emergency services providers to intervene and evaluate victims of intentional injuries.
The following six research questions were addressed in this study:
1. What principles of patient care and forensic science should be taught to emergency services health-care providers to intervene with victims of intentional trauma?
2. How can emergency services health professionals ensure appropriate documentation for prosecution?
3. What tools can the health-care provider use to facilitate collection of forensic evidence?
4. What is an appropriate model for designing a training program?
5. How will the training program be implemented?
6. How will the training program be evaluated?
The development problem solving methodology was in conjunction with formative and summative committee review to create a comprehensive training program for emergency services health-care providers. Procedures included an extensive review of the literature to examine sources of intentional injuries; principles of evidence collection and documentation; and typical training program objectives, topics, and concepts. Interviews with the local Family Advocacy Officers, Officers of Special Investigations, and a lawyer were conducted to identify what information is needed to support conviction and common errors found with medical evidence collection. Information obtained from the literature review and interviews was organized into a training program and combined with the principles of curriculum
design by Kemp, Morrison, and Ross (1998). The training program was tested on a pilot group of health professionals from the 325th Medical Group, Tyndall Air Force Base. The study concluded that there is a need to educate healthcare providers on how to collect and document forensic evidence while clinically managing patients with intentional injuries.
The study also found that a lack of training on this subject could lead to technical errors and an inability to support conviction of a perpetrator. Evaluation of an existing tool identified a need for a new tool to assist providers to collect and document forensic evidence. Study recommendations included providing the proposed training program to all health-care providers that work in emergency services and to provide training to health professionals at other military facilities.