Abstract
Non-fatal violent crimes in the United States have surged since the Covid-19 pandemic. These patients often end up in an emergency department due to their injuries and often preservation of evidence is crucial in adjudicating their criminal case. If a patient dies as a result of a crime, there are forensic pathologist and medical examiners that complete a forensic exam and collect evidence but what if a patient survives the crime? Therefore, there is an increase demand for medicolegal services and a need for forensic care in the hospital setting. Forensic Nurses are specially trained to bridge the gap between medical and legal aspects of patient care.
Our forensic nursing education program offers free forensic nursing education that meets the IAFN forensic nursing guidelines for becoming a forensic nurse. We have developed a training program that support the forensic nurse after their initial 40-hour didactic training which is the starting point in becoming a forensic nurse. Forensic nurses experience vicarious trauma during their career due to the nature of the work. Our training provides resiliency training and wellness coaching to our students as they start their career in forensic nursing. Burnout and vicarious trauma in the first couple of years of a forensic nurse’s career plagues the forensic nursing workforce leading to constant turnover in this field. Our approach to forensic nursing training will hopefully ease some of that turnover and provide forensic nurses with the support that they need.
Our wellness coach is following up on our participants from the class monthly to gather if they are needing help emotionally or have any questions. We are finding that some nurses need help finding jobs out in the community while other nurses want more clinical practice. We have developed a forensic nursing fellowship to help support these nurses. In the fellowship the participants will work with an experienced forensic nurse at a local level 1 trauma center to develop their forensic nursing skills. Our training program has a 2-day clinical skills lab at our local simulation training center so nurses can be proficient in their forensic clinical skills. We are confident that all the support and trainings we give our participants will make a difference in decreasing burnout and help them develop coping strategies to deal with vicarious trauma.
Notes
References:
1. Health Resources and Services Administration. (2024, November). Who can apply. https://www.hrsa.gov/grants/apply-for-a-grant/who-can-apply
2. International Association of Forensic Nurses. (2024). Forensic nursing education guidelines. https://www.forensicnurses.org/page/EducationGuidelinesAccess/
3. Noe, M.C., Crandall, M., & Tougas, M.D. (2024). Forensic Nurse Examiners - Meeting the needs of survivors of violent crimes. The New England Journal of Medicine, 391(19), 1770-1771. DOI:10.1056/NEJMp2403604
Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network. (2022, February 15). Congress moves to address critical shortage of sexual assault nurse examiners; RAINN partners on bipartisan legislation. https://rainn.org/news/congress-moves-address-critical-shortage-sexual-assault-nurse-examiners-rainn-partners
4. Vogt, E.L., Jiang, C., Jenkins, Q., Millette, M.J., Caldwell, M.T., Mehari, K.S., & Marsh, E.E. (2022). Trends in US emergency department use after sexual assault, 2006-2019. JAMA Network Open. 5(10), 1-11. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.36273
Sigma Membership
Non-member
Type
Poster
Format Type
Text-based Document
Study Design/Type
Other
Research Approach
Other
Keywords:
Academic-clinical Partnership, Teaching and Learning Strategies, Workforce, Forensic Nurses, Forensic Nursing, Forensic Nursing Education, Nursing Education, Advances in Education
Recommended Citation
Calow, Natalie; Reiss, Paula; Bachmeier, Barbra; and Kreeger, Darienne, "Responding to Violence in Your Community: Developing a Forensic Nursing Training Program" (2025). Biennial Convention (CONV). 63.
https://www.sigmarepository.org/convention/2025/posters_2025/63
Conference Name
48th Biennial Convention
Conference Host
Sigma Theta Tau International
Conference Location
Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
Conference Year
2025
Rights Holder
All rights reserved by the author(s) and/or publisher(s) listed in this item record unless relinquished in whole or part by a rights notation or a Creative Commons License present in this item record. All permission requests should be directed accordingly and not to the Sigma Repository. All submitting authors or publishers have affirmed that when using material in their work where they do not own copyright, they have obtained permission of the copyright holder prior to submission and the rights holder has been acknowledged as necessary.
Review Type
Abstract Review Only: Reviewed by Event Host
Acquisition
Proxy-submission
Date of Issue
2025-12-05
Responding to Violence in Your Community: Developing a Forensic Nursing Training Program
Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
Non-fatal violent crimes in the United States have surged since the Covid-19 pandemic. These patients often end up in an emergency department due to their injuries and often preservation of evidence is crucial in adjudicating their criminal case. If a patient dies as a result of a crime, there are forensic pathologist and medical examiners that complete a forensic exam and collect evidence but what if a patient survives the crime? Therefore, there is an increase demand for medicolegal services and a need for forensic care in the hospital setting. Forensic Nurses are specially trained to bridge the gap between medical and legal aspects of patient care.
Our forensic nursing education program offers free forensic nursing education that meets the IAFN forensic nursing guidelines for becoming a forensic nurse. We have developed a training program that support the forensic nurse after their initial 40-hour didactic training which is the starting point in becoming a forensic nurse. Forensic nurses experience vicarious trauma during their career due to the nature of the work. Our training provides resiliency training and wellness coaching to our students as they start their career in forensic nursing. Burnout and vicarious trauma in the first couple of years of a forensic nurse’s career plagues the forensic nursing workforce leading to constant turnover in this field. Our approach to forensic nursing training will hopefully ease some of that turnover and provide forensic nurses with the support that they need.
Our wellness coach is following up on our participants from the class monthly to gather if they are needing help emotionally or have any questions. We are finding that some nurses need help finding jobs out in the community while other nurses want more clinical practice. We have developed a forensic nursing fellowship to help support these nurses. In the fellowship the participants will work with an experienced forensic nurse at a local level 1 trauma center to develop their forensic nursing skills. Our training program has a 2-day clinical skills lab at our local simulation training center so nurses can be proficient in their forensic clinical skills. We are confident that all the support and trainings we give our participants will make a difference in decreasing burnout and help them develop coping strategies to deal with vicarious trauma.
Description
Forensic nursing is a specialized field of nursing that bridges the gap between medical and legal aspects of patient care. We have developed a forensic nursing training program that provides nurses with the trainings they need to become a forensic nurse and helps assist them in the emotional side of forensic nursing. Resiliency training has been built into our forensic nursing 40-hour didactic training to help tackle these factors and increase the number of forensic nurses in the community.