[Professionalization of Legal Dental Experts in Germany: Results of Studies on Structured Focus Groups]. / Ergebnisse strukturierter Fokusgruppenarbeit zur Professionalisierung des zahnärztlichen Gutachterwesens in Deutschland.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Legal expert opinions are a crucial instrument of professional self-control in medicine. To give impulses for further development, focus groups were initiated to reflect upon the perspective of legal dental experts. METHODS: 5 focus group discussions on the topic "Professionalization of legal dental experts" were conducted. A total of 32 experienced legal dental experts participated in the discussions. The results were evaluated by qualitative content analysis. RESULTS: A catalogue of 68 ideas was generated for improvement and divided into 15 categories. Among these were periodic quality circles, interprofessional exchange, supervision of novices and periodic feedback for legal dental experts and dentists. CONCLUSION: Self-reflection can be included as an instrument for quality improvement of legal dental expert opinions.