Chapter 1: Evolution of Forensic Nursing Science

Mutual Responsibility

The idea that violence is not only the responsibility of law enforcement but also healthcare professionals.

trauma patients

All _____ are considered forensic cases until suspicion of abuse or questions of liability are confirmed or ruled out.

Accountability

The challenge issued by U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop in 1989 for healthcare professionals to assume accountability, along with law enforcement, for the problems associated with violence.

Pervasive Threats

The idea that domestic violence, child abuse, elder abuse, rape, homicide, murder, and traumatic accidents are ________ to the fundamental public health principle of population exposure.

Forensic Nursing

The specialty area of nursing that focuses on the identification and evaluation of injuries from weapons or human abuse and providing expert testimony in a court of law.

Collaborative Partners

The idea that public health and criminal justice must work together when seeking solutions to violence.

Code of Hammurabi

The oldest known legal code established by the King of Babylon that governed the field of medicine.

Forensic Science

The application of a broad spectrum of sciences used to elucidate questions of interest to the courts in relation to a crime or to a civil action.

Forensic Nursing

A scientific discipline that evolved from the historic roots of forensic science which is dedicated to the global exchange of knowledge and education in the science of forensic nursing.

Forensic medicine

It is a specialty that interprets or establishes the facts in equity or criminal law cases and is also referred to as medical jurisprudence.

Forensic pathology

This specifically addresses the determination of cause, manner, and mechanism of death and incorporates gross anatomical pathology. It provides insight into why death occurs and makes recommendations for the reduction and prevention of threats to public health and safety.

clinical forensic medicine

the application of clinical medicine to victims of trauma involving the proper processing of forensic evidence.

Forensic nurse examiners (FNEs)

They apply concepts and strategies of the forensic sciences in their specialty practices, such as death investigators, sexual assault nurse examiners, forensic psychiatric nurses, correctional nurse specialists, legal nurse consultants, forensic geriatric and pediatric specialist forensic clinical nurse specialists, or forensic nurse practitioners.

Forensic nursing science

it is defined as the application of the forensic aspects of healthcare combined with the bio/psycho/social/spiritual education of the registered nurse in the scientific investigation and treatment of the trauma or death of victims and perpetrators of violence, criminal activity, and traumatic accidents.

forensic nursing

The International Association of Forensic Nurses (IAFN) defines \_____ as the global practice of nursing where healthcare and legal systems intersect. It combines the forensic aspects of heathcare with the scientific investigation and treatment of crime or liability-related cases.

Nursing's Social Policy Statement

This requires that a specialty delineate a core of practice including roles, responsibilities, functions, and skills of a unique body of knowledge.

Scope and Standards of Forensic Nursing Practice

This is designed as a living document, subject to revision, because forensic nursing's structural framework is based on dynamic factors that are reactionary to the multiple components of healthcare, social justice

nursing process

a scientific method that nurses use to provide care, beginning with an initial patient assessment and the establishment of a nursing diagnosis.

Assessment

The first step of the nursing process, which includes a head-to-toe inspection, history taking, and review of clinical records.

Planning

\__________ to meet the needs of forensic patients involves both simple and complex activities, such as providing visual and auditory privacy during a confidential forensic interview and placing a "Do Not Disturb" sign on the room door.

interventions

Nursing \____________ are the core of the nursing process, but forensic nurses operate with standing orders, protocols, algorithms, or other directives based on law enforcement or judicial processes.

evaluation

The process of \_______ must take into account all data generated in the nurse-patient encounter. Feedback must be derived from the patient and from other members of the care team, such as advocates, attorneys, therapists, law enforcement officers, and counselors.

Nursing diagnoses

These are clinical judgments that provide the basis for nursing interventions to achieve outcomes.

North American Nursing Diagnosis Association (NANDA)

In 1990, this association stated that nursing diagnoses provide the basis for the selection of nursing interventions that will achieve outcomes for which the nurse is accountable.

Forensic nursing practice

it is the nursing care of individuals of all ages with perceived physical or emotional alterations, which may require immediate or long-term intervention with implicit legal implications.

Prevention

A key aspect of traditional nursing care and an imperative one for forensic nursing practice.