USA College of Nursing and USA Simulation Program Host International Association of Forensic Nurses
Posted on March 21, 2024 by College of Nursing
The University of South Alabama College of Nursing and the USA Simulation Program hosted the International Association of Forensic Nurses and their partners in March to film a video series that will educate current and future forensic nurses around the world.
The College of Nursing is a subrecipient of a grant led by the International Association of Forensic Nurses. The grant titled “OVC FY 21 Expanding Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) Services to Victims of Sexual Assault - Training & Technical Assistance” is funded by the Office for Victims of Crime. As subrecipients of the award, USA faculty and staff from the College of Nursing and the USA Simulation Program worked alongside partners from across the country to produce 15 educational videos on specialty topics.
The videos focus on providing trauma-informed, culturally appropriate medical forensic care to diverse patients including elderly patients, patients of color, incarcerated patients, patients that have recently immigrated to the United States, and patients that are experiencing human trafficking, as well as communicating with families of patients receiving medical forensic care. Two videos also specifically focus on providing medical forensic care to trans and gender non-binary patients.
Novice and seasoned nurses can sometimes struggle with these topics, especially if they have not had the opportunity to care for many patients with these specific considerations. The educational videos will provide examples of best practice approaches to providing the best medical forensic care possible to a wide range of patients.
“Our hope is that these snippets of forensic nurse and patient interactions can provide other forensic nurses with guidance on how to handle certain situations and increase their comfort caring for diverse patient populations,” Dr. Candice Selwyn, research assistant professor in the College of Nursing, said.
A forensic nurse will go on to care for hundreds, if not thousands, of patients over the course of their career. Increasing the comfort and confidence forensic nurses have in addressing specific clinical scenarios will help improve the care they go on to provide to patients within their communities.
Once complete, the videos filmed by Motivation Media will be shared with members of the International Association of Forensic Nurses to enhance their knowledge and practice as forensic nurses.