Forensic Nursing combines nursing science with the investigation of injuries or deaths that involve accidents, abuse, violence or criminal activity. Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners (SANE nurses) are one of the most recognized types of forensic nurses, but they have special training in one type of injury. Forensic nursing programs typically involve a broader set of skills, encompassing some or all of the following:
Interpersonal violence, including domestic violence, child and elder abuse/neglect, psychological abuse
Forensic mental health
Correctional nursing
Legal nurse consulting
Emergency/trauma services, including auto and pedestrian accidents, traumatic injuries, suicide attempts, work-related injuries, disasters
Patient care facility issues, including accidents/injuries/neglect, inappropriate treatments & meds
Public health and safety, including environmental hazards, alcohol and drug abuse, food and drug tampering, illegal abortion practices, epidemiology, and organ donation
Death investigation, including homicides, suicides, suspicious or accidental deaths, and mass disasters
Forensic nurses find that their additional training improves their basic nursing skills, and allows them to derive greater career satisfaction from helping patient in another rather unique way.
Approximately 37 training programs exist, ranging from certificate programs that require a specific number of hours of training, to degree programs (typically Masters level programs). Many of the certificate programs are available as online training.
Trauma professionals who don’t routinely take care of burns tend to radically overestimate the size of burns. This can create significant problems for the patient, because the formula used to determine fluid rates and total crystalloid given are based on burn size.
Don’t flood your patient! Watch this 5 minute video instead.
Last year, a lot of the papers presented at EAST were a bit ho-hum. But I’ve been reviewing the abstracts for the upcoming January 2016 meeting, and there’s a lot of good stuff! Although you do need to take this with a grain of salt, because sometimes the paper does not live up to the hype of the abstract. But many of the abstracts look so good, that I’m going to dedicate both December and January Trauma MedEd newsletters to reviewing them.
There are lots of intriguing ideas coming! Here are a few that I will be writing about:
Suction evacuation of hemothorax
(F)utility of CPR in hemorrhagic shock
(F)utility of blood administration in the helicopter
EMS scene time and mortality
Does Mucomyst (acetylcysteine) predispose to pneumonia?
Distracted driving prevention
How long is DVT a potential risk in TBI?
Plus I’ll pick apart a number of really crappy abstracts
And more…!
Anyone on the subscriber list as of midnight (CST) Sunday night will receive it later that night Everybody else will have to wait for me to release it here on the blog late next week. So sign up for early delivery now by clicking here!
This 11 minute video shows you how to insert an IV like a professional, with or without ultrasound. Two experts show you their best technique.
The video was broadcast during Trauma Education: The Next Generation 2015 and features Michael Zwank MD and Chris Norman RN from the Regions Hospital ED and department of Emergency Medicine.