Kelsey Jeffries RN
Sexual assault is a serious concern that impacts all nations, generations, cultures, age groups, and genders and in order to care for these patients properly, emergency departments must have policies and guidelines clearly in place. Florence Nightingale’s legacy of effective nursing was portrayed when caring for soldiers and the sick and dying. Historically, forensic nursing developed as an art of caring for survivors and offenders of interpersonal violence, crime, and sudden traumatic death. Before the forensic nurse evolved nurses provided care to victims and perpetrators of violence. In the 14th century, midwives performed gynecological examinations, collected evidence, and testified before the King’s court. In the 1980s there was a need for nursing to care for victims of violence with specific handling of evidence. In 1985, the US surgeon general recognized violence as an emerging healthcare issue. The purpose of this paper is to develop an educational plan for teaching emergency room nurses the critical steps in the identification and care of victims of sexual assault and to expose the gap analysis in the healthcare system in the care and treatment for victims of assault. Forensic nursing is a very critical link in the administration of justice and a significant resource for the multidisciplinary approach to caring for victims of violent crimes. In 1992 the International Association of Forensic Nurses was founded, led by Virginia Lynch and 70 registered nurses . Virginia Lynch was in a psychiatric education program when she chose the Tarrant County Rape Crisis program for her clinical practicum. After caring for sexual assault victims Virginia initiated the first rape crisis program, which became the first sexual assault nurse-training program