Path to Forensic Nursing Which road to take?

[daisyfleur70]

I am a new grad nurse (just took the NCLEX today in fact). I've wanted to be a SANE for about as long as I've wanted to be a nurse. I know that to work as a SANE, along with certification, experience is desired in either ED, women's health, or L&D/MBU (so say the job postings in my area at least), along with advanced crisis management experience.

I have been applying like crazy, but ED residencies have been hard to come by/attain, I precepted in the ED, which makes it nearly impossible for me to get a residency in L&D/MBU (and that's not an interest area for me anyway). I have tons of women's health care experience, but not as an RN, rather as a certified health care assistant, I worked at a women's health clinic for 10 years, and have worked with sexual assault survivors in that setting. My question is this... my best bet for jobs at the moment seems to be psych nursing. I can definitely get crisis management experience in this area, but I don't know if my work at the women's clinic would count because I wasn't an RN there. The economy is such that I can't afford to be too picky about my first job...but I din't want to stray too far from the course for a SANE certification in the not too distant future (I'm in my early 40s, new nurse, but no spring chicken! lol)

Any advice? I know I have to get the certificate, but figured I could do that while I'm "paying my dues". Thanks so much!

[wannabecnl]

I have a friend from nursing school who also wants to do SANE nursing. She started in the ICU, went to the ED, and is now working in an inpatient psych unit. She said that many of her patients are sexual assault victims, so the experience is very relevant.

I would suggest that you look for a non-geropsych psych unit job (of course, whether one is available is another story). It seems to be a good place to start, along with ED. God bless you for wanting to do this very difficult type of nursing.