Jm. Jentzen et al., MEDICOLEGAL DEATH INVESTIGATOR PREEMPLOYMENT TEST DEVELOPMENT, The American journal of forensic medicine and pathology, 17(2), 1996, pp. 112-116
The medicolegal death investigator (MDI) represents an essential compo
nent in the multidisciplinary investigation of sudden and unexpected d
eaths. Presently there exists no specific program for the job training
evaluation procedure for new (MDI) employees. We discuss the developm
ent of a medicolegal death investigator preemployment training tool, w
hich consists of a training and evaluation program containing a list o
f tasks and task steps. After the investigator demonstrates the abilit
y to perform individual tasks independently, the trainee will be objec
tively evaluated by the completion of a written test specifically desi
gned to cover the task items. The preemployment test has been develope
d by those professionals best able to determine the job requirements,
the death investigators. The specific outcomes of the process also inc
lude further definition of the profession, preemployment testing, poli
cy and procedure development, posttraining evaluation, identification
of training needs, curriculum design and further professional developm
ent, and identification of the profession of death investigator.