Forensics Nursing

Sexual assault affects patients across all ages, backgrounds, and circumstances, and the nurse’s response in those first critical hours shapes both the patient’s health outcomes and the integrity of any legal case that follows. This course focuses on the clinical knowledge nurses need to provide safe, competent, and legally sound care to patients who have experienced sexual assault.

The course opens with the foundational structure of forensic nursing practice, including the roles of the SANE, SAFE, and Sexual Assault Response Team (SART), and the legal protections that govern the forensic examination. From there, the content moves into trauma-informed care, addressing how the stress response affects patient behavior and presentation, and how therapeutic communication principles guide every interaction from triage through discharge.

The examination module provides a detailed look at the sexual assault medical forensic examination itself, including history-taking, the TEARS mnemonic for injury documentation, colposcopy and forensic photography, and the documentation standards that make findings defensible in court. The evidence collection module covers chain of custody requirements, clothing and body surface evidence collection, alternative light source use, bite mark swabbing and photography protocols, and the specific challenges of drug-facilitated sexual assault.

Medical management content addresses the full post-assault pharmacologic regimen, including gonorrhea, chlamydia, and trichomoniasis prophylaxis with current CDC-recommended agents and dosing, emergency contraception, HIV non-occupational post-exposure prophylaxis (nPEP), immunizations, and follow-up testing timelines. The course concludes with a dedicated module on special populations, examining the distinct assessment findings, communication strategies, consent considerations, and mandatory reporting obligations that apply when caring for older adults, children, male victims, LGBTQ+ and transgender patients, and victims of human trafficking.