Evaluation of Awareness for Emergency Unit Workers in Collecting, Keeping and Transferring of Biological Evidences from Forensic Cases

Abstract

Owing to the fact that the healthcare personnel and the individuals responsible for those teams take part at the first step of chain of custody, their tasks and activity is of prime importance. Besides a complete examination and treatment for forensic cases,  they are also in charge of collection and transfer of the biological samples having an evidential value in line with the attorney generalship or court notices and demands.  In this study, it’s aimed to investigate  the  knowledge  levels  of  emergency  medical  personnel  about  the  collection, storage, protection and transfer of biological materials having an evidential reasoning that are obtained from forensic cases. The study data includes the responses of 102 voluntary persons to a 10-question survey. The research results reveal that even though the emergency medical personnel considers that they fulfill their share for forensic incidents, it’s found out that they have inadequate information and awareness for collection, storage and transfer of the biological samples from forensic cases

Key Words: Emergency medicine, biological evidence, chain of custody