Narrowly missed window for SAFE certification (vent)

[NightNerd, MSN, RN]

Ahhhhhh, I am so disheartened right now and feeling rather sorry for myself, so here's a vent.

Last year, I took a class to become certified as a Forensic Nurse Examiner. Loved it, found it super interesting, was excited to finish my clinical requirements. The hospital I'm at has an excellent program and a lot of people took the class and applied for positions here afterward, as they help you complete the clinical portion to actually get certified. I was starting a new full-time job at the time and decided to start one new thing at a time. I've been eyeballing this program for years and there have ALWAYS been open positions, plus it is an area of high burnout, so there is usually a flow of nurses in and out of the specialty.

Well, I shouldn't have waited to apply. Today is the FIRST open position they have posted since I took the class last April. In exactly one week, my year to complete clinicals is up, and I would have to retake (and pay for) the entire class again to have another chance.

I'm especially bummed because I was so close to having everything done. I was able to do so much in finding my own clinical experiences, and on the good graces of the preceptors for that program, who called me in if they had a case I could help with. I have one case and one trial left to go, but at this point, there is no way I can do those and submit the paperwork by the deadline.

Big sigh. I've got plenty of stuff to do, finishing my BSN, applying to grad school, exciting happenings in my personal life, so I won't be moping for long. And I can always retake the class in a few years once things settle down; I still would really love to do this someday! I'm just upset that I spent so much money and unpaid time to get SO CLOSE to being certified, only to miss it by the skin of my teeth.

[Lunah, MSN, RN]

What a bummer. I was what we called a SAMFE (sexual assault medical forensic examiner) as a collateral duty in the Army. Just prior to commissioning and being whisked off to my duty station, I had been actively searching for courses on my own to work toward this. Imagine my joy when I got to my first duty station and was told that they had a SANE class coming up and that they would love to have me! I did that for a few years, taking a break when I deployed — thank goodness we didn't have any incidents on my tiny compound, I am not sure how chain of custody would have worked! I probably would have had to take a rotary wing/fixed wing combo to a larger base where there was actually some type of law enforcement to sign for it!

I got pretty burned out on it, partly because I was put on continuous call (24s in a row) many times because the civilian nurses didn't want to take call but couldn't be "voluntold" like I was. I still wanted to take call, but I don't sleep well when I am on call and many days of call in a row took a toll. When I came home from deployment, I declined further participation (which really meant that I asked to not be part of the program any longer; truthfully they could have told me to suck it up and deal, but they are quite sensitive to our needs after experiencing the horrors of war trauma).

So I am once again considering forensics at this point. I keep coming back to it! I have GI Bill remaining, and I have time to think about it as I wait to become a first time mom this summer. I have put school on the back burner in favor of family, but it's still in my brain. I keep looking in my folder of links to forensic programs.