Awareness of medical students toward forensic medicine at Albaha University medical college, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Awareness of medical students towards forensic medicinewas assessed at Albaha University, Saudi Arabia in 2016. This report aimed to provide detail descriptive and analytical findings of the cross-sectional survey conducted to explore the medical students' awareness towards forensic medicine and the factors affecting their choice of this specialty in the future. It was found that more than half of the students (63.3%) had poor awareness towards forensic medicine. Personal reasons (84.2%) were the main factors affecting the students' choice of forensic medicine as specialty in the future. Students' level of study was solo predictive for their awareness level using binary logistic regression (B = - 2.485, Wald test = 14.276, P = 0.000). Early exposure to, and well-distributed forensic medicine themes throughout the medical school phases, is needed to pivotally include this specialty in the students' future alternatives.