Abstract

PURPOSE
The purpose of this survey was to investigate emergency department nurses' recognition of forensics nursing and their educational needs for forensics nursing education.
METHODS
Data were collected via questionnaires from 167 emergency department nurses who were working in 7 university hospitals. Nurses' experiences of trauma or accidents and their recognition of and educational needs for forensic nursing education were assessed.
RESULTS
All subjects reported having suffered bodily injury due to falling or serious traffic accidents; 92.2% reported having suffered bodily injury caused by suicide attempts; 91.6% reported having experienced physical violence or abuse; 76.0% reported having experienced sexual assault or abuse; 68.9% reported having experienced some difficulties during their nursing care due to lack of forensics knowledge; and 88.6% reported never having been trained in forensics nursing. The educational needs score for "forensics nursing" was 3.61; the needs score for "abuse- and violence-related education" was 3.65; the needs score for "incident data collection related education" was 3.47; and the needs score for "forensics theory related education" was 3.34.
CONCLUSION
The findings of the study underscore a strong need to develop an educational program on forensics nursing for emergency department nurses.