The Forensic Field of Nursing - Research Paper Example

? The forensic field of practice has gained immense popularity as an area of study for a majority of disciplines in health sciences. Forensic scienceis a nursing area of expertise comprising subspecialties whose focal points are nursing application who take care of victims and offenders. These patients may be still alive or deceased and such care occurs at the clinical legal perspective. Recognized education in the field of nursing began after the global acknowledgment of the activities of Florence Nightingale. The Nightingale representation of nursing gained firm establishment on an novice system of hospital tutoring. The students learned while on job, mostly in healthcare facilities through observation and knowledge acquisition from experienced nurses (Burgess, Berger & Boersma, 2004). The fundamental nursing program of study focuses on firm psychological and physical science base. This essential base comprises human anatomy and physiology, behavioral sciences, biology, nursing arts, theory and general humanities. In the late 20hcentury, nursing ac a course became integral in a majority of universities. This immense advancement is attributable to demands of consumers as well as the more expansive roles for nursing. Nursing practice has undergone metamorphosis with the objective of meeting the needs of the society and the shifting clients’ needs. Conventionally, nurses have been trained as generalists and nurses with immense experience in clinical settings in specific areas are considered to be specialists. A specialty or occupation involving specialty calls for a body of practical application and theoretical knowledge. These undertakings have to be of highly specialized nature. Furthermore, a specialty area is often depicted to have a legally approved certification course which assesses the achievement of set standards. Additionally, specialty can be defined as a particular area of functional and clinical nursing with a fine, comprehensive focus for safe delivery of wide range of services in that specific nursing area. Early 1980s were a hallmark of a wide range of informal and formal nursing specialty programmes in nursing. Among pioneer specialties in nursing included areas of perinatal care, oncology and gerontology. The acknowledgment of a specialist field of practice is significantly increased with the training tracks which enhance the specialization (Lynch, 2007). Towards the end of the 20th century, it was a testament that a pioneering shift towards forensic nursing education was occurring globally at the levels of diploma, undergraduate and post-graduate. Development in this nursing specialty area was however slow compared to the already well established areas like gerontology and critical nurse care. Consequently, the educational advancement of forensic nursing was probably hampered by the need to first of all have a specialty accreditation. Forensic nursing is comprised of numerous subspecialties. In all these subcategories, the principal nursing practice is to offer care for offenders and victims both living and deceased. Such clinical care is interfaced with a legal perspective. Nurses who practice forensic application in their delivery of services are entangled to other disciplines hence it can be termed as a multidisciplinary specialty area. Such an interface allows forensic nurses to navigate systems such as child welfare system and criminal justice. Additionally, forensic nurses are linked to systems of medical examiner or coroner as well as the mental healthcare system all of which depend on provision of nursing services. Each subspecialty of forensic nursing has its own unique history and role in clinical practice development. Such factors have been influenced by societal needs reforms within healthcare settings and prisons as well as public sensitivity (Sekula, Colbert, Zoucha, Amar & Williams, 2012). An elaborate literature review in the field of forensic nursing identifies the following subspecialties in the nursing field; Forensic correctional or psychiatric nursing, sex assault nurse examiner (SANE), forensic nurse (death) investigators and clinical forensic nursing (Lawson & Rowe, 2009). Forensic correctional or psychiatric nursing is a subcategory in forensic nursing and targets individuals who have come into clash with the law. In a legal jurisdiction, such individuals ought to be remanded in custody for psychiatric evaluation. Additionally, such persons may be sentenced and imprisoned hence they require mental healthcare treatment during the incarceration period. It is against this backdrop of events that human rights activists and societies resulted in the recognition of offender privileges. Such rights included access to healthcare and the concession to have qualified practitioners in care provision. Such social awareness resorted to nurses being at the focal point in the provision of healthcare to individuals requiring mental and physical care. Consequently, forensic nurses were the elementary healthcare providers for society’s dually traumatized locked up persons. As such, forensic psychiatry mental healthcare is a critical subspecialty in forensic nursing in many countries globally. However, the subspecialty has yet attained the recognition status. Traditionally, education on nursing showed lack of responsiveness to the health needs of imprisoned populations. However, forensic correctional and psychiatric nurses were able to learn through job placements at such institutions. Additionally, these nurses gained immense knowledge from physicians in such centres as well as other forensic nurses. Critically significant is the forensic nurses to delineate areas such as criminal justice, criminogenic factors and contrasting viewpoints (Kent- W i l k i n s o n, 2011). A second category of subspecialty in forensic nursing is represented by forensic nurse investigators also called nurse death investigators or nurse coroners. This field for instance traces its history through Acts of law that facilitated medical assessment system for examining unexplained, unexpected or unnatural deaths. Nurses were best placed for the role as medical investigators because of their knowledge in biomedical sciences. Additionally, their background in pharmacology, psychosocial and their aptitude in medical terminology aided in them being properly placed compared other policemen and other medical personnel. This particular subspecialty has its roots in Alberta, Canada and has been internationally recognized. The education curriculum of forensic nurse/death investigators depend on educational modules that are offered in tertiary institutions. These specialists also gain knowledge from job placements on the etiology, mode and mechanism of death. In Miami, Florida, the United States, the nurses went on internships (Kent- W i l k i n s o n, 2011). Sex assault nurse examiners (SANE) is the third subspecialty in forensic nursing. Historically, victims of sexual assault were treated by nurses or physicians who had little formal education in forensic collection of evidence. The advancement of programmes targeting SANE began due to inadequacy in health care provision for the victims of sex-related cases. The longer waiting periods before seeing physicians for such victims marked the motion for nurses in provision of required assessment and follow-ups. The SANE programmes have been marked with slowed growth in various cities. However, its growth has been tremendous in cities with population sizes of more than 1 million. This can be linked to the general notion that larger cities harbor great number of offenders. For this particular subspecialty, education was advanced in tandem with the development of the role. It traces back its roots as early as 1970s in cities Memphis, Texas and Minneapolis in the US and in Ontario, Manitoba and Alberta in Canada (Kent- W i l k i n s o n, 2011). The last category in forensic nursing subspecialty is clinical forensic nursing. This subspecialty applies to nurses who normally work within emergency divisions caring for traumatized victims. These nurses also provide healthcare to individuals with interpersonal problems or victims of domestic violence. It involves the identification of unidentified or unrecognized injuries and further processing of the forensic proof. Clinical forensic nurse have played vital roles in areas of interpersonal conflicts. They have been in the forefront in evaluating cases of spousal, child and elderly abuse. Additionally, they have been in vital creating awareness by documenting laws and guidelines for jurisdiction purposes. It is now responsibility of most healthcare institutions to assess, document and screening for domestic violence victims. It is extremely vital for nursing education institutions to incorporate intervention content and violent assessment strategies (Lynch, 2007). In conclusion, nurses who practice forensic applications are the best strategically positioned in the provision of comprehensive care. Such healthcare provisions are administered to communities faced with violence, abuse, neglect, crime or other deviations from the set norms. Additionally, they play significant roles in provision of correctional services to facilities such as prisons. Lastly, forensic nurses provide adequate services in addressing professional practice matters or management of risks. Essentially, there is the need for development of forensic nursing education at advanced levels. Additionally, there is the necessity for in-service programmes in this nursing specialty (Kent- W i l k i n s o n, 2011). References Burgess, A., Berger, A., & Boersma, R. (2004). Forensic: Investigating the career potential in this emerging graduate specialty. American Journal of Nursing , 58-64. Kent- W i l k i n s o n, A. (2011). Forensic nursing educational development: an integrated review of the literature. Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing , 236–246. Lawson, L., & Rowe, S. (2009). The scientific foundations of SANE education. Journal of Forensic Nursing , 115-118. Lynch, V. (2007). Forensic Nursing Science and the Global Agenda. Journal of Forensic Science , 101-111. Sekula, L., Colbert, A., Zoucha, R., Amar, A., & Williams, J. (2012). Strengthening the Science of Forensic Nursing through Education and Research. Journal of Forensic Nursing , 1-2. Read More