«Forensic medicine»
specialty - 31.05.01 General Medicine
The total labor output of the discipline is 3 credits, 108 hours. 
The goal of mastering the discipline “Forensic Medicine” is to provide students with general cultural and professional competences, as a result of which future general practitioners should have formed a medical behavior and the basis of clinical thinking that will ensure the solution of professional problems and the application of an algorithm of activities in the following areas: 

• in resolving issues of medical and biomedical nature faced by law-enforcement officials during the investigation and judicial review of criminal and civil cases (fulfilling the duties of a specialist in the field of forensic medicine during the initial investigative actions; participation as experts in the commission of expert examinations, etc. ). 
• in solving some healthcare problems (for the prevention of injuries, poisoning, sudden death; analysis of defects in the diagnosis, treatment, preparation of medical documentation, gross discrepancies between clinical and forensic diagnoses, etc.); 
• in applying special knowledge when assisting law-enforcement bodies performing forensic examinations and giving opinions within their competence, as well as participating as experts in certain investigative actions (examination of a corpse, investigative experiment, etc. .) in accordance with the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation. 
  The objectives of studying the discipline are as follows:

• getting familiar with the system for organizing forensic medical examination in the Russian Federation;
• studying modern legislative documents (the Criminal Code, the Code of Criminal Procedure, the Code of Civil Procedure);
• mastering the concepts and basic principles of criminal and administrative law, deontology, medical ethics; 
• acquiring knowledge on the rights, duties and responsibilities of dentists involved in the proceedings as experts (examination of a corpse at the place of detection);
• acquiring knowledge of the concepts of general nosology, principles of classification of diseases, levels of knowledge of the structural foundations of diseases;
• acquiring knowledge on the basic concepts and mechanisms of damage formation; 
• obtaining the ability to correctly use the basic concepts of etiology, pathogenesis, morphology, morphogenesis of trauma and diseases;
• studying modern methods of clinical, laboratory and instrumental diagnosis of diseases and injuries;
• getting familiar with the main methods and techniques of forensic examination of living persons; 
• developing the skills in studying scientific literature and official statistical surveys, preparing essays, surveys on modern scientific problems in the field of forensic medicine;
• developing students' skills in communication and interaction with the team, colleagues, representatives of law-enforcement agencies, relatives and friends of the deceased.  

Forensic medicine is interconnected with and requires the following knowledge, abilities and skills, formed by previous disciplines: Human anatomy;
Knowledge: osteology, myology, splanchnology, angiology, anatomy of the nervous system. 
Abilities: proper orientation in the complex structure of the human body, quick finding and determining the position of organs and their parts. 
Skills: palpation of the main superficially located arteries, determination of the main anthropometric points and lines to elucidate the main constitutional features, demonstration of the movements carried out in the main joints of the body, palpation of the main muscle landmarks of the human body; correct location and names of anatomical formations. Histology, embryology, cytology.
Knowledge: the microscopic structure of human body structures for the subsequent study of the essence of their changes in pathology and during pathomorphosis. 
Abilities: microscopic identification of histological preparations and all morphological structures. Тopographic anatomy and operative surgery.
Knowledge: topography of tissues and organs. 
Abilities: orientation in topographic anatomy. 
Skills: identification of major surgical incisions and other results of medical procedures. Morbid anatomy.
Knowledge: main processes of general morbid anatomy, pathomorphology of diseases leading to sudden death. 
Abilities: description of macropreparations and micropreparations. 
Skills: identification and differential diagnostics of major diseases. Pathophysiology 
Knowledge: specific pathophysiological mechanisms underlying the development of various diseases and pathological processes. 
Abilities: modeling typical pathological processes in an experiment. 
Skills: application of acquired knowledge for the analysis of clinical and laboratory data. Pharmacology.
Knowledge: pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of drugs, the concepts of “dose and concentration”, the value of the individual characteristics of the body regarding the processes of absorption and excretion of drugs. 
Abilities: the use of knowledge of the basic principles of pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics for the analysis of the effect of drugs in the body and especially the effects of drugs in certain pathological conditions. 
Skills: analysis of the effects of drugs of various groups of medicines. Obstetrics. 
Knowledge: early and late pregnancy, the concept of birth injury, criminal abortion, spontaneous abortion. 
Abilities: diagnosis of the postpartum period and former birth. 
Skills: determination of pregnancy terms, former birth and abortion. Psychiatry and narcology.
Knowledge: main nosological forms of syndromes, symptoms of diseases and their clinical manifestations. 
Abilities: identification of symptoms and syndromes of diseases substantiating nosological forms. 
Skills: determination of signs of various types of intoxication (drug, alcohol, etc.) Specialty disciplines.
Knowledge: features of the course, diagnosis of various pathologies. 
Abilities: identification of various pathologies. 
Skills: determination of signs of various pathologies in the identification of personality. Public health and healthcare.
Knowledge: the fundamentals of labor legislation on health care and the Criminal Code in the light of the rights, duties and responsibilities of doctors in their professional activities; knowledge of the regulating documents of the Ministry of Healthcare of the Russian Federation, which should guide medical workers in their practical activities.
Abilities: use and analysis of information on public health and the activities of medical institutions to improve the quality and effectiveness of medical care. 
Skills: doctor's behavior, taking into account his/her rights, duties and responsibilities. 
The process of studying the discipline is aimed at the formation of the following competences: 

• readiness to abstract thinking, analysis, synthesis (GC-1)
• the ability and readiness to analyze the results of own activities to prevent professional errors (GPC-5)
• the ability to assess morphofunctional, physiological conditions and pathological processes in the human body to solve professional problems (GPC-9)
• readiness to collect and analyze patients’ complaints, their medical history, examination results, laboratory, instrumental, pathological and anatomical and other examinations in order to recognize the condition or establish the presence or absence of a disease (SPC-5)
• readiness to determine pathological conditions, symptoms, disease syndromes, nosological forms in patients in accordance with the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, 10th revision (SPC-6)
• readiness to analyze and publicly present medical information based on evidence-based medicine (SPC-20). 

In the course of studying the discipline “Forensic Medicine”, students learn the forensic medical and legal classification of traumatic objects, morphological features of injuries; the regulatory framework for determining the severity of harm to health; the rights, duties and responsibilities of a doctor who is involved in procedural actions as a specialist or expert (examination of a corpse at the place detection), morphological (macro- and micro) manifestations of various types of external effects, laboratory and instrumental methods of their examination, the basics and principles for justifying conclusions, substantiating diagnoses, interpreting data from various examinations in medical practice, about the principles and rules of medical ethics and deontology. Based on the acquired knowledge, students obtain the abilities to correctly conduct and draw up a protocol for examining a corpse at the place of detection with the establishment of the fact and prescription of the onset of death; to determine the need for additional laboratory tests; to describe macro- and micro-manifestations of various physical, chemical, mechanical effects, to identify and describe bodily injuries, to establish the mechanism and limitation of their formation; to prove medical information by substantiating expert’s findings, interpreting examination results; to realize expert’s professional activities taking into account the accepted moral and legal norms, laws and regulations; to timely and correctly use the knowledge gained during the study of the issues of forensic medicine when communicating with participants of criminal and civil proceedings, when communicating with colleagues, medical personnel. Students develop the skills in describing and diagnosing various types of damage; inspecting a corpse at the place of detection, followed by drawing up an inspection protocol; complying with laws and regulations on working with confidential information; proving medical information by analyzing diagnoses, findings, and interpreting the results of various examinations. 

Types of educational work: lectures, practical classes. The study of the discipline ends with a pass-fail test.
 

Subject syllabus