A Career in Forensic Nursing
Forensic nursing is a relatively new specialization that combines aspects of criminal justice with health care. Duties of forensic nurses may include crime scene investigation, treatment of crime victims, and take on the role f detective within a clinical health care setting to assist police in apprehending perpetrators. A primary role of a forensic nurse is to help victims with emotional and physical recovery while ensuring their rights are protected. Forensic nurse investigators are gaining more and more credibility within the court system, which has resulted in higher conviction rates, along with d fewer crime scene mistakes.
Forensic Nurse Career Overview
Forensic nurses are trained to identify, gather, and preserve crime scene evidence while treating crime victims. The guidance of forensic nurse’s helps investigators to preserve evidence that can then be used in future court proceedings. Areas of specialty include:
• Sexual assault nursing
• Corrections nursing
• Legal nurse consulting
• Nurse coroner/death examination
• Gerontology
• Community education
The majority of forensic nurses work as sexual assault nurse examiners (SANE) involving the collection of sensitive evidence as well as attending to the emotional needs of victims. Evidence is highly time-sensitive and needs t be collected within a 72 hour time-frame but must be gathered in such as way as to minimize further emotional trauma.
It is important that forensic nurses are able to keep clam during intensely stressful situations offering comfort and support to crime victims. Because crime victims are most often brought into the emergency room, forensic nurses work alongside ER hospital staff with their own team so that they may perform a thorough examination, gathering evidence along the way. Because sexual assault victims are very often not willing to disclose the attack, forensic nurses must rely on their observable behavior, on body markings as well as medical histories to uncover the truth. Forensic nurses are often called upon to relate their findings in court proceedings.
Forensic Nurse Educational Requirement
RN licensure is required to work as a forensic nurse. Many nursing schools offer a specialization in forensic nursing. Most schools offering a degree in forensic nursing also offer a two year graduate program leading to a Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) upon completion.
To work as a SANE will require additional training to obtain the credentials necessary to work with victims of sexual assault and sexual abuse. You will need to have two years experience as a licensed RN and have earned an MSN degree. Earning a SANE-A will enable you to work with both adolescents and adults. A SANE-P certificate, allowing you to work with pediatric patients, requires three years of RN experience. Each certification needs to be renewed every three years
Forensic Nurse Salaries
According to Salary.com, the starting salary for a forensic nurse examiner is about $25. per hour but can reach upward of $100. per hour, depending on your state, specialty, and years of experience. Forensic nurses generally earn a higher salary than RNs because of their specialized training. You can both work on an “on-call” basis and earn between $2 and $4 per hour in-between cases, obtaining a higher hourly wage when working on an active case. Some firm prefer to pay n a case-by-case basis, with each case lasting about four hours. Once you have worked in the field a few years, you may want to work independently as a consultant to law enforcement agencies, insurance companies and law firms, thereby earning a higher wage.
Career Outlook
While this is still a relatively new profession with somewhat limited opportunities, the role of the forensic nurse is becoming more and more valued within the criminal justice community due to the important service they provide with regard to evidence collection and patient care.
