Balance of hospital legal medical counselling through exploratory factor analysis

• Published in: Spanish Journal of Legal Medicine 2021-07, Vol.47 (3), p.105-111
• Main Authors: Santiago-Sáez, Andrés, García-Martín, Ángel F., Olivares-Pardo, Enrique, Liaño-Riera, Miryam, Labajo-González, Elena, Perea-Pérez, Bernardo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Advice; Asesoramiento; Hospital legal medicine service; Legal medicine; Medicina legal; Prevención de riesgos legales; Prevention of legal risks; Servicio de medicina legal hospitalaria
• ISSN: 2445-4249; 2445-4249
• DOI: 10.1016/j.remle.2020.10.001

The study of legal medicine approaches has been widely addressed in publications in the field of justice. However, the subject of hospital legal medicine services has been scarcely addressed in research; not attending to the importance of these services for the improvement of the legal risk management of health systems. To recognize the factorial structure of the benefits of the legal medicine service in a high-level hospital, among those seeking consultation for problems arising from the hospital's healthcare activity. A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out with a sample of 1213 files opened during the years 2007 and 2017. An exploratory factor analysis was performed by extraction of main components with varimax rotation. The average of records was 110.27 per year with a standard deviation of 39.51. The factorial analysis showed the two-dimensionality of the usefulness of the registry (letter of legal medicine services and medical-legal basis of the consultations), with the existence of two underlying factors that, added together, explained 68.04% of the total variance. A simplified factor structure to two factors has been obtained with a high reliability of the registration questionnaire. Due to its registry nature and ease of use, it is advisable to consider its use in evaluating the demand for advice to the hospital legal medicine service by the different users who come for problems related to the usual activities of the hospital. El estudio de los enfoques de la medicina legal ha sido ampliamente afrontado en publicaciones en el ámbito de la justicia. Sin embargo, la temática de los servicios de medicina legal hospitalaria ha sido escasamente abordada en investigaciones; no atendiendo a la importancia que tienen estos servicios para el perfeccionamiento de la gestión del riesgo legal de los sistemas sanitarios. Reconocer la estructura factorial de las prestaciones del servicio de medicina legal en un hospital de alto nivel, entre los demandantes de consulta por problemas derivados de la actividad asistencial del hospital. Se realizó un estudio descriptivo transversal con una muestra de 1213 expedientes abiertos durante los años 2007 y 2017. Se efectuó un análisis factorial exploratorio por extracción de componentes principales con rotación varimax. La media de expedientes fue de 110,27 por año con una desviación típica de 39,51. El análisis factorial mostró la bidimensionalidad de la utilidad del registro (carta de servicios de medicina l