Forensic Nursing

Television is filled to the remote with crime scene series. From these dramas, people sometimes get the impression that forensic nursing is a specialized duty in a detective agency or police crime scene investigative unit. While it’s true that some forensic nurses end up at the “scene of the crime,” a forensic nurse’s job is more with a live patient than a murdered one.

Forensic nurses, especially those with the American Forensic Nurses or the International Association of Forensic Nurses, do get to see some action and work on death investigations. However, most of them are involved with treating victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and child abuse. A forensic nurse must collect evidence properly and preserve the chain of evidence. This requires special training in these aspects of criminal justice, as well as collecting legal testimony. In addition to being a nurse, a forensic nurse must be trained in biological specimens, sociology, and psychology. They must also be prepared to handle trauma treatment and deal with the deaths of victims.

A forensic nurse must be an expert diagnostician, adept at care of victims ranging from sexual assault to attempted murder, and assisting all parties with criminal prosecution. The science of nursing must be applied to all proceedings involving care of the victim and processing of evidence at the same time--as nurses treat the victims, they can also destroy or contaminate valuable evidence.

Because forensic nursing is a relatively new field and it’s quite complex, it can be a complicated issue for nursing students who would like to specialize in forensics. The absence of a national standard in licensing also complicates matters for interested nurses. Although there really is no designation of “forensic nurse,” there are acronyms that describe some of the work they do. The ones dubbed SANE are Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner. SAE means Sexual Assault Examiner, and SAFE stands for Sexual Assault Forensic Examiner. There are other designations as well, and while they are all similar, they may have slightly different focuses.

There are other career focuses in forensic nursing. Aside from sexual assault examinations, there is the nurse who performs emergency room investigations, another who specializes in collecting evidence, the medical examiner’s nurse, legal consultant, and many others. All are formidable fields for the aspiring or current nurse.