Forensic nursing encompasses a body of specialty professions that serve great and crucial roles to the health care and judicial systems. Forensic nurses can treat assault victims, investigate crime scenes, or offer health care in a correctional facility. If the idea of a forensic nursing degree appeals to you, take a closer look at the features of every of the 8 specialty areas described below.
1. Correctional nursing specialistsThis offers effective and quality health care to people detained by the courts, in jail, prison, and other correctional institutions. In these facilities, correctional nursing may go to the sick, and perform physical examinations and administer medication to people with chronic requirements.
2. Forensic clinical nurse specialistsThese types of nurses have doctoral forensic nursing degrees or masters and use their training to serve as specialist consultants, clinicians, teachers, researches, and administrators in various forensic settings. They can work in emergency rooms, sexual assault examination programs, psychiatric forensic treatment units, and death investigation teams.
3. Forensic gerontology specialists
These investigate cases like the abuse, neglect, or exploitation of elders and to raise awareness concerning legal and human rights problems. These forensic nurses typically work in hospitals, nursing houses, and other facilities dedicated to caring for the elderly.
4. Forensic nurse investigators
Forensic nurse investigators uncover the conditions surrounding an unexpected or violent death. They are typically employed in the office of medical examiner and coroner. Forensic nurses inspect the body, study and examine the scene, aid in autopsies, collect medical as well as social history info on the deceased to determine the cause of death. Forensic nurse investigators frequently work with death investigators or nurse coroners.
5. Forensic psychiatric nurses
Forensic psychiatric nurses specialize in managing offenders with social, psychological, and behavioral disorders. These nurses evaluate and select patients for treatment, provide rehabilitative care, and manage a patient’s actions in the community. Furthermore, forensic psychiatric nurses also inspect and treat criminal defendants and help colleagues who witnessed assaults or experienced any emotional trauma.
6. Legal nurse consultants
Legal nurse consultants help attorneys working on civil cases where the law and medicine overlap. Some of these conditions can include medical malpractice, compensation of worker, probate, and personal injury. In this job, nurses use their forensic nursing education as well as clinical experience for interpreting and analyzing the medical info related to a case or claim, educating attorneys around medical evidence, and acting as liaisons between physicians, attorneys, and customers.
7. Nurse coroners or death investigators
These use their nursing skills for crime scene investigations. As the first professional to arrive at the crime scene of a suspicious death, a nurse coroner or death investigator will analyze the scene and inspect the body to estimate the time of death and find medical clues that may explain the cause.
8. Sexual assault nurse examiners
These provide compassionate and prompt care to sexual assault victims. These nurses are qualified from specialized forensic nursing education, and they evaluate injuries that a victim has suffered, locate and package forensic evidence related to the crime, and give info regarding the continued care of the victim. While in the courtroom, sexual assault nurse examiners will represent the victim, serving as witnesses who provide testimony based on their documented evidence.