Forensic Science for Nurses

All the victims clothing and jewelry and all pre-hospital linens and disposable supplied used on the victim are collected. Nothing is discarded or returned to the family. All items that accompany the patient into the ED are considered forensic evidence. Only law enforcement can determine evidentiary value and return items to the patient and/or family. All items are placed in paper bags and closed with evidence tape. Documentation of how the patient’s belongings were distributed is written in the patient’s record. A nurse stays with the evidence until it is collected by a law enforcement officer.

The forensic nursing process is the same as the nursing process. It is a goal-directed, dynamic framework for the roles and responsibilities of nurses. It begins with an initial patient assessment and establishment of a nursing diagnosis and then planning the nursing care, nursing interventions, and evaluations. The steps of the process and the knowledge and skill set of a nurse have provided both structure and common nomenclature to the work of nursing.

Forensic nursing science is an investigative approach to explain the events and associated medical-legal issues that result in the aftermath of these events when injury is sustained by trauma, abuse, neglect, violence, traumatic accidents, and traumatic events of nature. A clinical forensic nurse provides care to both the victim and the perpetrator and defends the patients' legal rights through the collection and documentation of forensic evidence. The overall goal of the forensic nurse is to work with law enforcement to find the truth, catch perpetrators, exonerate the innocent, and reduce crime.

The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) stresses that evidentiary material must be identified, retained, and safeguarded as part of the screening and assessment process in a hospital.  In 1997, the Joint Commission published its revisions for patient assessments noting in part that all nurses be educated to collect and safeguard physical evidence associated with a know criminal act. Additional resource:  http://verbaljudo.tripod.com/forensicnursing/id7.html

Forensic nurses can practices as consultants, independent contractors, or employees of healthcare facilities. There are eight roles for nurses in forensic nursing. 1.  Inter-personal violence 2.  Emergency and trauma 3.  Forensic mental health 4.  Correctional health 5.  Legal nurse consulting 6.  Patient care facilities issues 7.  Public health and safety 8.  Death investigation Additional resource:   For more information on forensic nursing, read through the IAFN website.   Follow this link http://www.iafn.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=137

Forensic public health addresses biological and environmental threats to the health and safety of the community. For more information regarding information for the healthcare professional on public health issues and the Center for Disease Prevention (CDC) follow this link: http://www.cdc.gov/CDCForYou/public_health_professionals.html