Training and research in Forensic Medicine:: Present situation and future challenges

Background: Lawyers need some medical knowledge and physicians must know about forensics. Aim. To explore training and research programs in forensic medicine in Chilean universities. Material and methods: Deans of all Medicine Faculties in Chile were contacted by e-mail and invited to answer a questionnaire containing 21 questions. A survey of Chilean publications on forensic medicine was performed in Medline, Lilacs and SciELO databases. Results: Fourteen deans answered the questionnaire. In all the responding faculties, forensic medicine is an obligatory course, generally during the fifth year and mostly combining theory with practice. In seven faculties, forensic medicine concepts are included in other courses. Forensics is taught in only two of 10 dental schools, two of 17 nursing schools, one of nine midwives schools and one of nine medical technology schools. It is not taught in phonoaudiology, kinesiology and nutrition schools. There are 74 physicians that teach the specialty but only 10 are certified by the National Board of Medical Specialty Certification (CONACEM). Treatment of most topics on forensics is insufficient. Thanatology is the Strongest topic and forensic dentistry is the weakest. There are 52 publications in the area, mostly on "medical law". Conclusions: Forensic medicine is taught in medical schools mostly as thanatology. The knowledge of forensics among medical students is limited and must be improved.