The Effect of Training on the Knowledge Level of Emergency Nurses on Collecting, Keeping and Transferring Biological Evidence in Forensic Cases

Abstract

This study was carried out to determine the effect of training on the knowledge level of emergency nurses on collecting, keeping, and transferring biological evidence in forensic cases. The research was designed in a single group pretest-posttest quasi-experimental model. The sample group of this study consisted of 61 nurses working at the emergency service in a training and research hospital in one of the metropolitan cities of Turkey. While the mean score obtained from the questionnaire administrated to nurses before training (pre-test) was 57.81 ± 16.70, the mean score achieved after training (post-test) was 85.56 ± 12.34. When comparing the mean scores of nurses before and after the forensic nursing training, a statistically significant difference was found. It was concluded that the training on collecting, keeping, and transferring biological evidence had a positive effect on the knowledge level of emergency nurses. Therefore, it can be suggested that such in-service training programs should be organized so that emergency nurses can manage forensic cases properly.

Forensic nursing in the emergency department: the distance between nurses’ performed role behaviors and their perception of behaviors’ importance

“…Working as a forensic nurse requires special skills and knowledge to recognize the signs and symptoms of violence and abuse [ 15 ]. Inadequate awareness of ED nurses may lead to misidentification of evidence and injustice [ 20 , 21 ]. To effectively fulfill their role, ED nurses must possess more than just the ability to identify injury or evidence.…”