Preparing Emergency Physicians for Malpractice Litigation: A Joint Emergency Medicine Residency-law School Mock Trial Competition

Abstract Background Fear of malpractice affects the daily life of many emergency physicians. Educational programs to prepare for litigation are lacking. Objectives An educational collaboration between an emergency medicine residency and a law school, whereby a medical malpractice mock trial competition is used to teach residents basic skills for testifying in legal proceedings. Methods Ten residents in an academic emergency medicine program volunteered as witnesses in a malpractice mock trial competition at a law school. Residents testified two or three times and, after each appearance, were provided feedback to prepare them for subsequent rounds of testimony. They were also given access to videotaped testimony. Judges rated each resident using a nine-question survey scored on a 10-point Likert scale. Scores were compared as a group between rounds of testimony. Results Participants demonstrated significant improvement in seven of nine measured categories. p -Values reached significance in: Worked Well on Direct Examination ( p