Conference Proceedings - School of Nursing & Midwifery - Trinity ...

School of Nursing & Midwifery, Trinity College Dublin: 8 th Annual Interdisciplinary Research Conference
Transforming Healthcare Through Research, Education & Technology: 7 th – 9 th November 2007
Conference Proceedings
Back to contents page
Forensic Psychiatric Nursing: a Canadian educator’s
perspective
Melodie Hull, RPN, MSc, BA, TESL, PID, MEd. (candidate)
Nursing Faculty
College of the Rockies
2928 Edgewood Drive,
Cranbrook, BC
Canada V1C 6C9
telephone: 1-205-489-3779
e-mail #1: melodieprof@telus.net
e-mail #2: mhull@cotr.bc.ca
College of the Rockies website: www.cotr.bc.ca
Are the terms forensic nurse and forensic psychiatric nurse
interchangeable? No. This paper takes the position that forensic
psychiatric nursing is a unique field and by this answers the
question, ‘what differentiates this nurse from others’? A systematic
review of literature on the subject of forensic psychiatric nurses is
sparse, although mixed amongst articles on forensic nursing and
forensic psychiatric nursing, there seems to be some common
agreement: there is such a thing as a forensic psychiatric nurse. A
good deal of confusion about prevails about the description of what
this means. Some say that forensic psychiatric nursing is a subset
of nursing and not a specialty at all: others that it is simply a subset
of nursing in general, and again not a specialty. Still others assert
that forensic psychiatric nursing is a specialized subset of
psychiatric-mental health nursing. The writer concurs. This paper
will also answer the question: ‘if forensic psychiatric nursing is a
psychiatric nursing specialty, what special training or education
does this nurse require?’ The writer will describe the roles and
responsibilities of a forensic psychiatric nurse, differentiate him/her
from other nurses, and then identify key components of curricula
that need to be addressed by nurse-educators.
Key words: forensic psychiatric nursing, forensic nursing,
correctional nursing, nursing education, criminal justice, mental
health, nursing specialty, mental health/psychiatric nursing
Back to contents page
- 417 -