Registered Nurse (RN) - Forensic Nurse Examiner - St. Vincent Medical Center

Forensic Registered Nurse (RN)

The Forensic Registered Nurse (RN) has a specialized education and training who, with increasing independence, utilizes the nursing process, current evidence-based clinical knowledge, and the International Association of Forensic Nursing Scope and Standards of Practice (ANA & IAFN 2016) to provide professional nursing care for patients across the life-span who have been affected by crime, unlawful acts, trauma, and intentional and unintentional harm. The Forensic Nurse integrates knowledge of nursing science, criminal justice, public health, and forensic science and utilizes a trauma-informed approach to assess the medical-legal needs of patients, collaborate with health team members to coordinate patient care, anticipate the outcomes of nursing interventions, and set criteria for the quality of patient care.

Essential Job Functions:

• In collaboration with the interdisciplinary care team, conducts initial and ongoing patient assessment, analyzes assessment data, creates a plan of care, implements treatment, and evaluates treatment effectiveness and safety planning throughout the process and at discharge.
• Administers medications in a safe manner, consistent with the State of Practice and Bon Secours Mercy Health policies and procedures
• Serves as point of contact for patients' care coordination throughout hospital departments.
• Collaborates with interdisciplinary teams composed of medical professionals, community and system-based advocates, social services workers, faith community leaders, law enforcement, and legal practitioners.
• Applies the nursing process to assess, diagnose, and treat individuals, families, groups, communities, and populations affected by violence and trauma, through identification, management, and prevention of intentional and unintentional injuries and death.
• Provides episodic care for populations affected by trauma, including those legally defined as victims, suspects, the accused, and perpetrators.
• Acts as a patient safety advocate by participating in ongoing quality improvement in the department.
• Assess the need for and implement unit-based activities (quality assessment, in-services, etc.).
• Provides education to patients, staff, communities, and populations in the prevention, detection, and treatment of the effects of violence.
• Accepts responsibility and accountability for ethical/legal functioning.

Licensing/Certification:

• Current RN license in state they are working or covered by compact (required)
• BLS Basic Life Support (preferred upon hire, required to obtain from an approved source prior to providing direct patient care)
• Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner-Adult/Adolescent (SANE-A) - International Association of Forensic Nurses (IAFN) (obtained in one year)
• Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner-Pediatric (SANE-P) - International Association of Forensic Nurses (IAFN) (obtained in one year)

Education:

• Bachelor of Science Nursing (preferred)

Work Experience:

• 2 years of RN experience (required)

Training:

• International Association of Forensic Nurses (IAFN) didactic training for Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner/Forensic Nursing program (obtained in one year)

Patient Population:

• Demonstrates the knowledge and skills necessary to provide care appropriate to the age of the patients served on his or her assigned unit.

Skills:

• Assigns patient care according to the nursing skill, knowledge, and scope of practice of staff.
• Orients, facilitates learning experience, and provides education (based upon quality improvement indicators, outcomes, and implementation) to nursing staff and others.
• Possesses clinical knowledge, skills, and competency to provide evidence-based patient care in accordance with the current standards of practice, policy and procedure, and BSMH mission.
• Performs comprehensive assessment of patient's clinical condition and psychosocial needs of the patient and their supportive resources.
• Safely and efficiently develops, implements, and prioritizes plan of care.
• Application of the nursing process in patient care delivery.
• Assesses patient's physical and emotional responses to treatment to evaluate effectiveness of intervention and patient outcomes; revises plan of care accordingly.
• Assists patient and family in coping with patient's illness.
• Collaborates with others in the delivery of coordinated patient care.
• Strong interpersonal and verbal/written communication skills.
• Applies cultural diversity and inclusion principles when caring for patients and their support resources.
• Recognizes own limitations and seeks assistance and acquires information to perform safely.
• Advances personal and professional growth through participation in educational programs, current literature, in-services, and workshops.
• Exhibits professionalism through accountability for own and delegated actions.
• Integrates cost-effective measures into practice and models effective stewardship of available resources.
• Practices self-care and cultivates resilience in conflict and difficult circumstances.
• Protects the safety and privacy of all persons.
• Understanding and utilization of office and clinical technologies.
• Ability to communicate with patients in a manner they can understand considering their personal preferences.
• Compassionate, relationship-based approach to help find meaning in illness, suffering, pain, and existence.
• Remains calm, adaptive, and collective during an emergency.
• Recognizes, collects, packages, preserves, and transfers specimens and samples with potential legal evidentiary value.
• Documents relevant information accurately and thoroughly.
• Applies ethical, legal, and privacy guidelines to the collection, maintenance, use, and dissemination of information.
• Knowledge of contemporary forensic nursing evidence-based practice, research, and future innovations.
• Evaluation of professional forensic nursing practice to optimize goals and outcomes.
• Identification, collection, and organization of data relevant to forensic nurses.
• Administers, organizes, and coordinates the role of the forensic nurse in programs, systems, and environments where the forensic nurse practices.
• Involvement and influence in internal and external systems where professional and societal regulations of nursing practice affect public health and safety.
• Development, analysis, and implementation of health policy relevant to forensic nurses and patient populations in forensic settings.
• Provision of ethical, safe, evidenced-based, trauma-informed direct patient care related to injury, crime, victimization, violence, abuse, and exploitation.
• Provision of testimony forensic, both fact and expert, in a variety of judicial settings.
• Ability to meet the physical and emotional demands of forensic nursing care.

Hours:

• Shift: Nights
• Hours: 7:00PM - 7:30AM
• Hours per pay period: 72
• Weekend, holiday and on-call rotation required per department policy