Proposing and developing a National Institute for Forensic Toxicology in Ireland - transformation through education

Toxicology for coroners is an important minority service whose quality is central to the validity and integrity of the death certification system. Multidisciplinary case conferences are routine practice in the major medical specialties. In conventional practice for the coroners’ courts, the dissecting pathologist is often relied upon to interpret toxicological data usually without specialist training. In Ireland the service is fragmented and there is at present no medically trained toxicologist directly involved in the direction or reporting of cases even where multiple drugs are found in blood at various levels and drug-drug interaction may be possible or likely. To encourage both medical professionals and political administration to confront the issues, the education literature on action research and critical incident methodology is reviewed to develop a strategy for change in this service. An example of action research being applied to medicine is used as an indicator that an action research template could be used to advocate for a new National Institute for Forensic Toxicology in Ireland. The main participant groups are identified and the development cycle outlined.