Forensic Nursing
Recognized by the American Nurses Association, forensic nursing is among the newest specialties in the nursing field. The most basic explanation of the field is that forensic nurses work with law enforcement to assist in investigation violent crimes like accidental death, assault, or abuse. Forensic nurses also collect and preserve evidence from suspects or victims of these crimes to be used in criminal court cases.
Forensic nursing careers is a field that needs a lot of people. Crime takes place all over the world, every day. Even when one suspect is put in prison there will always be another one. This means that there are a lot of areas for forensic nurses to work. These titles include Correctional Nursing Specialist, Forensic Gerontology Specialist, Forensic Death Investigator, Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner, Legal Nurse Consultant, Forensic Psychiatric Nurse, and many others.
By far the largest sub-specialty in forensic nursing is those working with sexual assault victims. While this may be the largest sub-specialty death investigation, legal consulting, and forensic psychiatric nursing are also growing in demand and popularity.
The job of a forensic nurse jumps into action as soon as a sexual assault takes place. If is the responsibility of the forensic nurse to take pictures, gather evidence, and preserve that evidence so that a suspect can be caught and put on trial. They also provide comfort to the victim and try to ascertain details of the crime so that the police can solve the crime more easily. Forensic nurses also run tests on the evidence they collect, like making DNA comparisons.
Forensic nurses who go into death investigation typically assist the medical examiner or pathologist in determining a cause of death for the victim. A lot of times this forensic nurse may also be the coroner and can handle all the jobs by themselves.
For those going into forensic psychiatric nursing, you will mostly be working with convicted criminals or suspects to a crime. You job as the forensic nurse is to examine the suspect and determine if they are psychologically fit to stand trial. Or you may perform similar examinations on released or paroled convicts so that they can find work.
Forensic nurses working in tissue and organ donation will mostly be documenting the actual donations. For example, making sure the paperwork is correct and that the donations are being handled properly.
The process for becoming a forensic nurse starts with being a registered nurse, since this is a requirement. Then you can enroll in a specialty program that will teach you all the areas of forensic nursing that you need to know. After completing the training you can gain some experience by working with a highly skilled and training forensic nurse. While passing the certification exam is not required for forensic nurses, it is highly recommended and lends further credibility to your training. You may want to cheek with a list of nursing schools.
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