forensic science and nursing, do they go together?

[johnnyDoGood]

as a nurse, do you think that forensics is helpful in your field? i am very interested in forensic science, and i do know they have forensic nursing. i came across a program that offers a cert. in forensics for nurses, police, etc.

[onetiredmomma]

If I were younger I would jump at the chance to do forensic nursing! I read about forensic ER nurses a couple of years ago and it sounded like a wonderfully rewarding road to travel. (hind sight)

[Anisettes, BSN, RN]

Absolutely it can be useful - there are many areas where it can be useful, but there still aren't a lot of jobs across the board (as compared to many other specialties) with the exception of Sexual Assault, which itself isn't usually a full time job. It's usually a job where you're on call most of the time and get called in as needed.

Forensics knowledge can also be very useful in the ED as an extra skill set when you receive victims of crime, it's all about protecting/securing potential evidence and maintaining the chain of evidence.

Check out the Specialty Nurse forum, there is a Forensics board there you can get more information. Good luck to you.

[elkpark]

I worked as a psych hospital surveyor for my state and CMS for several years, and the position involved more forensics and investigation of allegations of assault/abuse/neglect than I anticipated when I took the job. My state agency sent all of us surveyors to the same national certification program in interview/interrogation and evidence management that many law enforcement people take (we were in class with police officers and SBI officers), and, when we were investigating a death on a psych unit (which was an important part of our job, not that it happened all that often :)), I got a copy of the autopsy report sent directly to me, by name, from the OCME and part of my job was to review the autopsy report and incorporate that information into our investigation and conclusions. We did investigations that involved me talking to the state's chief toxicologist or the DEA in DC to get information relevant to the particular case. Of course, we were surveying/investigating purely from a regulatory perspective, not a criminal perspective.

[ExPharmaGirl, BSN, RN]

I have a Master's in Forensics and just got into nursing school. I plan on getting certified in forensics as well. Our police dept requires RNs to take samples from suspects at the PD, so you can contract with them part time as well.