The Forensic Nurse

Often I hear the question, “how do I become a forensic nurse?”. There are many sexual assault centers around the country, and even around the world. But not all of them offer the same standards of care.

Lets say you wanted to remodel your basement. You could open the phone book and find a wide array of contractors who would happily come and try to meet your needs. Some of them are licensed, bonded, and insured….and others…..well they try their best.

When it comes to sexual assault victims services you may find yourself in a similar situation. Depending on where you live, there may be a full service facility with fully trained and certified SANE’s, counciling services, advocates and more. 

It is also quite possible that you have no formalized services at all. in several areas (counties, cities, etc) of the country do not recognize SANE expertise. A lot of this has to do with the expierence that local district attorneys and law enforcement have had with others who may or may not have had any formalized training at all.

Although the IAFN has served as an example of standards of care, there is no regulating body that makes sure these standards are taught and  mandated for nursing sexual assault practice. Forensic Nursing is now recognized by the ANA as a specific dicipline these days, but the formalized standards of care vary greatly from facility to facility. 

There are many facilities that allow nurses without any forensic nursing credientials or formalized training to practice as a sexual assault nurse.  This variance in education and training often leads to botched cases, misleading or inaccurate collection of data, and is detremental to the SANE cause. 

Part of what makes a forensic nurse such a valuable tool for law enforcement, district attorneys, and their patients is adhering to a standard of care. Allowing nurses to practice as a SANE, without giving them the tools they need to succeed is harmful to SANEs everywhere, and worse yet to the patient.

Failure to properly follow a standard of care, and the established rules of evidence collection could very easily lead to the rapist going free or even the wrong person being arrested. Rape and Sexual Assault touches lives forever.

Over the last few years more and more convictions are being overturned because of faulty evidence collection or DNA. We owe it to our patients, and we owe it to the accused to make sure that we get it right.