Any recommended forensic reading material?

Specialties Forensic

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Specializes in ICU.

Hi everyone~ I have been an RN for 2 years now, currently working in ICU, but plan on transferring to ER within the year and then on to grad school for Forensic Nursing. I worked for a police department as a college job and absolutely loved it, but knew above all I was interested in nursing, which excited me to explore this amazing field which seems perfect for me. I also recently underwent training for rape crisis counseling and am volunteering for the local YWCA doing that.

Today I finally joined IAFN, so I will be interested to be reading the Journal and info that comes with membership. I am interested in any other texts or journals that you all think is beneficial to getting the latest research/news/or maybe a great overview of the field so I can learn as much as I can before I apply for grad school. I saw Lynch's book Forensic Nursing, which is about $90, I am almost tempted to get it, but I wanted to see if there's any resources people who actually work in the field think would be more beneficial and possibly less expensive. Any recommendations appreciated! Thanks for your time reading my post.

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Specializes in Wound Care, ER Nursing.

Welcome Gigglesforall. Your membership to IAFN will get you the Journal of Forensic Nursing. It is a research based and peer reviewed journal, good for knowing where research in forensic nursing is actually being done. Keep those issues for grad school, you'll find them useful for your own studies.

Virginia Lynch's book is excellent for a broad overview that's up to date. Another to consider is "Forensic Nursing - A Handbook for Practice (Copy right 2006, by Jones & Bartlett Publishers, Inc)." This is the textbook I use where I am a graduate forensic nursing student. Authors are Rita Hammer, Barbara Moynihan, and Elaine Pagliaro.

Also, if you have access to professional search engines, there's a lot to be found on-line in the various profesional journals. The Journal of Psychsocial Nursing, Critical Care Nursing Quarterly, Emergency Medicine Clinics of North America, and many others are where I have found good information. You just need access to a good search engine and time to do the research. Some of the information is outdated, some of it not. But it's good to do the research just to see what's out there.

You might want to contact the grad school you are thinking of and talk to someone in the forensic nursing dept about what they are using. Where I go to school (Quinnipiac University) we also use "The Medical Record as a Forensic Resouce", by Campion Quinn (2005, Jones & Bartlett Publishers, Inc) and a Criminal Law textbook.

One thing to be aware of: This is my fourth semester out of six, and I am only just now doing all forensic nursing lecture and clinical. I also had to take (and buy textbooks for) courses in nursing theories, nursing issues, research and statistics, pathophysiology, health assessment, as well as others. I also found I had to print out many, many assigned readings only available through the internet. Lots of paper and ink expenses. It's best to know about something like that so you can financially expect it.

Good luck, and if you haven't already joined your state chapter, that's also an additional resource for you. Hope this helps.

4n608

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Specializes in ICU.

Thanks 4n608, I will be checking those out. I just want to get a good background of knowledge now before I start school because I am so excited about this specialty and want to start as soon as I can! Any other beneficial websites would be helpful, I've Googled it plenty, but I could be missing good ones. Thanks.

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Specializes in ICU.

(So I guess this is turning into my own thread!) I just wanted to update in case anyone is interested. I purchased "Forensic Nursing" by Virginia Lynch and I am sooo glad I did. It is such a great resource for me to learn the basics and the very thorough details of this specialty. I am learning so much from it! Definitely reccommend this book!

Take care,

Jackie

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If you visit Amazon.com and do a search for "forensic" and "nurse" you'll find some good literature.

Also, after selecting a book to "look at" if you scroll about middle way down the page to the section that says "people who bought this book also bought..." there are links to other forensic books that may be of interest.

I picked of two today. One was recommend from IAFN and the other I found by using the keywords above.

Happy hunting.

:studyowl:

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Specializes in Future: Forensic/Legal Nurse Consulting.

Any material from/by Virginia Lynch is the way to go. I am starting on my masters in forensic science with a certificate in forensic nursing this fall at CU Colorado Springs. From what I understand, Virginia is based at that school -- I'm so excited!!!

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Specializes in Education, FP, LNC, Forensics, ED, OB.

Good luck to all seeking a career in Forensic Nursing.

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