Iranian Journal of Forensic Medicine
Year:2011 | Volume:16 | Issue:4 (60)|Papers Count:8

Background: Customer satisfaction is a factor in the efficacy of a hospital. To attain this goal, patients rights should be observed. Thus, all medical staff, especially physicians and nurses, should be aware of charter of patient rights and ought to observe it.Methods: This study was a descriptive analytical of cross-sectional one. Subjects of the study were 132 nurses and 55 hospital physicians. Instrument of data collection comprised two parts; the first part includes demographic information (age, sex, marital status, work experience, ward work, hospital work) and the second part was related to the awareness of evaluated 21 different legal situations in nurses and physicians about the charter of the patient rights.Findings: The results revealed that mean score of physician awareness of the charter of patient rights was 15.12, which determines the level of the physician awareness was good. The mean score of nurses awareness of the charter of the patient rights was 13.45, which determines their level of awareness was moderate. Generally, the level of awareness of the charter of the patient rights in physicians was more than nurses’.Conclusion: According to the findings, health service providers, specifically the medical staff, should be aware of tenor of the charter of patient rights and it is essential for hospital managers to run policies that make a ground for observing this charter.

Background: Emotional Intelligence may have a basic role in confronting stress and controlling of human behavior.The aim of this study is a statistical classification of the crimes based on Emotional Intelligence level in prisoners of Yazd central prison.Methods: 320 prisoners of Yazd central prison were selected and demographic data was gathered through a researcher made questionnaire. They classified into three groups based on perpetrated crimes. The questionnaire Bar- on had been used to determine emotional quotient. Among the questionnaires, 281 of them had been filled out.Obtained data were analyzed statistically.Findings: Results showed that prisoners who had perpetrated the crime of unlawful relationship, had the lowest and perisoners who had perpetrated the crime related to draw a cheque, had the highest emotional quotient. The prisoners who had perpetrated other crimes such as quarrel, theft, illicit substance related and fraud had emotional quotient between those two groups.Conclusion: The results of this study can help involved persons in planning for crime prevention by goal directed educations of criminals especially prisoners.

Background: A concern for doctors and medical staff in forensic medicine centers is the risk of transmission contagious diseases such as AIDS, Hepatitis B and C from patients or cadavers of IV drug abusers and their specimens.They may be infected to these serious diseases. The estimation of the prevalences of these diseases in expired IV drug abusers can be a guide for primary and secondary preventions in high risk forensic medicine and other medical centers personnel.Methods: This is a one- year observational descriptive case-control study on expired IV drug abusers and the control group (car accident victims), handled in Hamedan Forensic Medicine Center from 20 April 2007 to 20 April 2008. To estimate the prevalence of AIDS, Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C infections among cadavers of IV drug abusers and to compare them with these prevalence in cadavers of the control group, blood samples were taken from all expired IV drug abusers and the same number of car accident victims. Then the blood samples were analyzed in the laboratory for detection of HBS-Ag, HBS-Ab, HIV-Ab, and HCV-Ab (hemolyzed blood samples were excluded from the study). To confirm the diagnosis, Western Blot and RIBA tests were done on positive samples for HIV-Ab and HCV-Ab respectively. Demographic data were taken too. Statistical analysis of the results was performed by using SPSS software (version16).Findings: Out of 94 expired IV drug abusers, 10.6% were HIV-Ab positive, 6.4%were HBS-Ag positive, and 60.6% were HCV-Ab positive, which were statistically significant for HIV and HCV compared to control group (p<0.001 and p<0.0001 respectively).Conclusion: Since the prevalence of HIV and HCV infections have shown a significant difference between expired IV drug abusers and the control group, strict observation of safety such as wearing masks, glasses, and gloves are highly recommended to reduce the risk of acquiring these diseases in case of exposure to patients, cadavers and specimens of IV drug abusers.

Background: Generally, semen detection in samples referred to the forensic lab is used to assume that the rape has occured. Due to different samples contamination that referred to the forensic lab and the difference of time intervals between sampling and sending them to the serological lab, the obtained results may be different. So, in this study the sensitivity and specificity of a routine test as “AP” and “Rapid PSA” are compared with “RIA PSA assay” as a Gold standard method.Methods: This study is done on random with different samples; for example, different sources, rectal or vaginal soabs – the things has been used at the rape time – clothes, carpet and other things had been found at a crime scene.After performing the “AP” test, all positive tests are selected to compare with another method, (PSA rapid and PSA RIA test). For detection of a false positive “AP” test, 350 positive “AP” are selected to test by PSA Rapid and RIA methods.Findings: 1- 95% of “positive AP reaction” samples were positive in “PSA RIA” method too.74٪ of “positive AP reaction” samples were positive in PSA rapid method.2- 3- The more given time after sampling, the more negative test results are coming. For example after 10 days, the negative results increased by 3%.Conclusion: The “AP” method has high positive predictive value and the “rapid PSA” is the perefered method for confirmation of a positive “AP” result; but, because of increasing false negative results with time, it’s negative predictive isn’t valuable and must be adjusted by an accurate method such as PSA.

Background: Information, derived from death certificates specifically cause of death and mortality rates are a part of basic national databases. Because health statistics, national mortality and morbidity statistics, and data on diseases prevalence would come from death certificates, to ensure a complete and accurate record death certificate is very important. The purpose of this study was to determine inappropriate cause of death record in certificates and its comparison between instructional and non-instructional hospitals in Kermanshah city.Methods: This was a descriptive analytical study. The study population consisted of patients who died in the first half of 2007 in instructional and non-instructional hospitals in Kermanshah. Random sampling and data collection were done through a checklist and descriptive statistical methods were used to analyze the data.Findings: In this study the total sample of 321 hospital deaths in Kermanshah, were surveyed. Samples include 92 death certificates in instructional hospitals and 229 in non-instructional hospitals. Relationship between type of hospital and assingned garbage codes (p=0.003) and global groups of diseases (p=0.009) as the cause of death on issued certificates were valid (more misuses occur in non-structional hospitals).Conclusion: Using garbage, impossible, improbable codes and the one referred to a global group of diseases for assigning underlying cause of death was significantly increased in instructional and non-instructional hospitals.According to the results, postgraduate education of physicians and more practices to identify the cause of death, specifically in non-instructional hospitals, is essential to improve the quality of a death data gathering.

Background: Domestic violence is a kind of brutal behavior which occurs in close relationships. Violence against women is one of the most brutal consequences of economic, social, political, and cultural inequalities between men and women, leading to mental and physical illnesses, low participation of women in social activities, sadness, emotional stress, poor sexual performance, abortion, maternal hospitalization, delayed care pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections. The aim of this study is to estimate psychological/emotional violence in women and its related factors.Methods: This is an analytical cross sectional study, carried out in Shahroud on 600 women. We estimated psychological/emotional through a fellow questionnaire which its validity and reliability were confirmed. Analytical statistics methods were x2, Mannwitni u, Spearman and logistic regression.Findings: The results revealed that 52.8% of housewives and 47.2% of employed women were suffering from psychological violence. The difference was not significant (p=0.36). Most type of violence against housewives and employed women was force in doing something contrary to the desire of them and the one against any of these groups was being imprisoned at home. Significant relationships between duration of marriage, and psychological violence (p=0.05) marital status (p=0.01) and type of jobs in men and women (p=0.01, p=0.04) were found.Conclusion: Regarding to violence against housewives and employed women, obviously, more researches should be done on causes of it. Cultural movement and respect to the other rights are suggested strategies in this research.

Summary: Recently, In forensic researches, a type of DNA-typing that can identify genetic trait such as hair and skin color, gait, geographic ancestry and predisposition to smoking has been developed as forensic DNA Phenotypings (FDPs).FDPs have other names such as phenotypic profiling, molecular photo fitting, and visual trait prediction.FDP differs from traditional DNA-typing (DNA-fingerprinting). The latter does not reveal personal (body) information. It determines whether two samples, one from the crime scene and the other from the suspect, match together. If they match, the police would assume that the suspect is the perpetrator; otherwise, this technology has little use when the police do not have any suspect or police/ forensic DNA-data base evidences.FDP seeks to pass this limitation by using more DNA informations and creation a genetically based description of a suspect appearance. But, unlike the traditional DNA –typing which confirms the suspect’s identity, FDP predicts the suspects appearance as well as behavior and geographical ancestry. But, researchers hope that in the future, this technology could be used more safely in forensic and genetic investigations.