Forensic Nurses:
Misunderstood Oddities or Celebrated Specialists?

R-E-S-P-E-C-T. It's what forensic nurses are working hard to earn and what they should command from their employers, their colleagues, their constituents and the general populace of the scientific, legal and medical communities.

In the year and a half in which I've been privileged to be surrounded by such talented forensic professionals and documented their ideas and issues through this publication, on any given day I vacillate between having to explain what a forensic nurse is, to hearing someone rave about the contributions a forensic nurse makes. So what are you? A widely misunderstood, ignored oddity or a cherished member of the forensic team? The answer, frustratingly enough, is "both," often at the same time!

I have met exceedingly capable, brilliant nurses who have practiced in the field of forensics long before DNA became the new darling of the medico-legal world. I have encountered nurses who are just realizing they have been forensic nurses all along, but didn't realize they have a right to trust their "forensic antennae" in the clinical setting. I have met psychiatric, institutional and correctional nurses who have the mental and sometimes physical battle scars from working with an "invisible" forensic patient population. I have met brand-new nurses who are afraid they'll never be taken seriously as forensic specialists. I know forensic nurses who work as death investigators who can run circles around the best gumshoes out there. I have talked to educators who believe training forensic nurses is the key to the future. I have heard politicians painfully cover up their ignorance on the subject of forensic nursing, bluffing their way through a conversation or paying lip service to the field without any true convictions; other lawmakers have a passion for forensic nursing that know no limits. I have interviewed widely respected medical examiners, forensic scientists and crime laboratory directors who are convinced that forensic nurses are an important member of the forensics family. There are FBI and OIG personnel who think forensic nurses are the coolest people on the planet, and vendors in the marketplace who think forensic nurses are pathetic wanna-bes. I have listened to prosecutors tell me how valuable forensic nurses are to the criminal justice process, and I know many nurse attorneys and legal nurse consultants who are making great strides in the expert witness arena. I've heard "just a nurse" one too many times; I never get tired of hearing "Wow, a forensic nurse did that?" Forensic nurses have immense influence in the clinical and investigative environment, including substantial purchasing power within the marketplace.

forensic nurse magazine editorial advisory board members Barb Spence-O'Donnell (left) and Mary Sullivan are pictured with Dr. Robert Roswell, undersecretary of the Veterans Administration.

Forensic nursing is a mixed bag of accomplishments and failures, fears and righteous certainty, struggles and victories. For every success a forensic nurse has, there's another administrator unwilling to fund a SART program, a medical examiner's office who won't hire a forensic nurse as a death investigator, or a university that can't imagine training nurses in forensics. It's an intricate dance of one step forward, two steps back; however, there are enough willing partners that I believe forensic nurses will soon have filled-up dance cards. Know that for every threatened detractor, you have a supporter. Let the spotlight-seeking detractors' comments fall on deaf ears and realize that supporters are behind the scenes where it matters, quietly working on your behalf. Anything worth fighting for comes with a price, but then again, you already knew that, didn't you?

Here's to new frontiers!

Kelly M. Pyrek
Publisher/Editor in Chief

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