The Case for Forensic Nursing
By Susan Wessling
If you're a fan of mystery novels and true crime dramas, this exciting career that combines nursing with detective work and criminal law is well worth investigating,
Nursing articles provided by MinorityNurse.com.
Although she didn't know it then, a personal trauma in 1994 changed the course of Karen Coleman's professional career. Coleman, an emergency room RN at the time, was raped by her then-husband, who had been barred from her home by an order of protection.
"When I went to the hospital after the assault, I had a physician perform the evidence collection kit and he didn't have any idea what he was doing. He had no clue," she recalls. "He wasn't sure about the process. He wasn't familiar with collecting evidence. I had to show him how to do my own rape kit."
Today Coleman, who is African American, is the Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) coordinator for Victims Assistance Services in Elmsford, N.Y. It was by chance, Coleman says, that she learned about the field of forensic nursing. Three years after surviving her assault, she came across an article about nurses being specially trained to do forensic examinations of rape victims, and she learned that a SANE program was being considered in her county.
Coleman attended several meetings about the new program, which she then was asked to coordinate. "I thought it was ideal, because I felt nurses could do these exams," she says. "Having been a victim myself and receiving a less than optimal exam, I made it my mission in life to make sure no one else would ever have to go through that."
Coleman is now responsible for the recruitment, hiring and retention of SANE nurses for her program, which operates in 11 of the 14 hospitals in Westchester County. Her position is full time but the nurses hired into the program work on call.
