Clinical and Community Death Investigation XFSC 7835

Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to:

• Examine the role of coroner and medical examiner systems and their legal authority in death investigation.
• Compare and contrast the various classifications of death.
• Differentiate between cause and mechanism of death.
• Evaluate the nursing process and how it applies to death investigation
• Explain the process in planned home deaths and how complications can arise.
• Investigate the interrelationship between medical misadventures, risk management, patient safety and quality improvement and clinical death investigations.
• Differentiate the steps required for a successful death investigation, in both clinical and community settings from initial reporting to the scene, documentation, investigation, chain of custody and final body disposition.
• Assess post-mortem changes in the body and their relationship to the variables of time of death and describe body positional factors that might affect investigative pathways.
• Evaluate the potential for applying the death investigation skill set in non-traditional settings such as occupational health and safety, public health, disaster response and others..
• Contrast the difference between clinical and forensic autopsies and their relationship to causation.
• Analyze the nuances of the process of infant versus adult death investigation.
• Discuss the importance of collaboration with a multitude of other agencies in death investigations.
• Compare and contrast criminal and quasi-judicial proceedings such as a Coroners Inquest. ​

Effective as of Fall 2022