NURSES RESPONSE TO VIOLENCE

Forensic nurses provide compassionate care to victims of violent crime, abuse, or neglect while gathering evidence to support law enforcement. By doing this, they play a vital role in both our healthcare and criminal justice systems. Forensic nurses may also facilitate their communities by operating side by side with pathologists and coroners to spot correct causes of death and ensure correct reporting of vital statistics and medicine trends.

Legal Nurse Consultant?

Many people wouldn't think of legal nurse consulting as a forensic specialty, but then again, it is the combination of nursing and the law, which fits the description of nursing forensics in any legal case where medical problems are involved, nurse consultants could be considered to be practicing forensics. Some forensic nurses work more directly as personal consultants for law firms or victim support teams. By working as a legal consultant, you will help treat the patient, but also help the law firm build a case in favour of their client. You will generally need a couple years of experience working with trauma patients before you can take this kind of expertise-based position.

Roles & Responsibilities

·      Crime victims face a higher risk of post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, suicide, and medical complications than other patients; forensic nurses improve each legal outcomes and quality of life for these patients.

·      Forensic nurses also assist in providing professional insight to potential causes of patient injuries in situations in which witnesses are unavailable.

·      Prior to beginning an examination, forensic nurses should receive consent from the patient. Additionally to documenting obvious injuries, forensic nurses specialize in looking for refined signs of assault, like petechial, voice changes, and loss of internal organ or bladder function

·      Forensic nurses document patient injuries through tools as well as cameras, measuring tapes, fluid swabs, rape kits, and a high-powered light which will reveal hard-to-see bruises and fluids like seminal fluid, urine, or saliva.

·      They document every injury for potential use as evidence in a later court case, where they may be called as an expert witness to testify to the injuries.

·      Forensic nurses are responsible for educating a patient on his or her rights. More specifically, forensic nurses go through coaching to be ready to perceive and treat differing kinds of trauma that is experienced by many different types of people.