Forensic Patients Hiding in Full View

Abstract

Violence has been identified as one of the leading public health hazards of our time. The majority of the victims of violence are being seen in emergency departments and critical care areas. This compels today's nurse to be educated in the proper recognition, interpretation, collection, documentation, and photo-documentation of the ramifications of violence and the associated forensic evidence. The categorization of these patients should be determined by the critical care nurse. Categorical determinations will ensure that the nurse develops a systematic, algorithmic management plan for any client with potential forensic implications associated with their care. It will also assist the nurse in recognizing the mandated reporting that must be completed in certain instances. The additional benefit is to determine what educational needs are required by the critical care nurse staff to posit the forensic population; and, to consider what future research must be accomplished in order to better serve this unique clientele.

Preservação de vestígios forenses pela enfermagem nos serviços de emergência: revisão de escopo

“… Most of them knew about the care protocols, cooperated with the authorities and involved families in the victim’s care process. To identify categories of forensic patients in the intensive care unit and emergency department 31 . The identification of 27 categories of forensic patients made it possible to properly recognize, document and collect evidence according to each lesion, before offering the necessary care for the patient’s wounds.…”

“…The scope of the scientific production on the preservation of forensic traces by Nursing professionals working in emergency services is presented in five categories: 1) Nursing professionals’ knowledge about the preservation of forensic traces 14 , 16 - 17 , 20 - 22 , 25 - 27 , 29 - 30 , 34 - 35 , 37 ; 2) Procedures performed by Nursing to preserve traces in the victim’s body 6 - 7 , 15 , 18 , 20 - 21 , 24 - 26 , 28 - 36 ; 3) Procedures performed by Nursing to preserve the victim’s belongings/objects 14 - 15 , 18 , 23 , 25 - 26 , 29 , 32 - 33 , 35 - 36 ; 4) Procedures performed by Nursing to document traces 19 , 21 , 24 - 29 , 31 - 37 ; and 5) Actions performed by Nursing to maintain the chain of custody 7 , 16 - 17 , 25 . The synthesis of the scientific production is presented in Figure 5 .…”

Preservación de los rastros forenses que realizan los enfermeros en los servicios de emergencias: revisión de alcance

“…Identificar categorías de pacientes forenses en la unidad de terapia intensiva, la unidad de cuidados intensivos y los departamentos de emergencia (31) .…”

“…Examinadores de enfermería de agresión sexual pediátrica Estados Unidos/2014 (29) Journal of Emergency Nursing Reflexivo Enfermeros de emergencias Suecia/2014 (30) Journal of Clinical Nursing Transversal Enfermeros de emergencias Estados Unidos/2015 (31) Critical Care Nursing Longitudinal retrospectivo Enfermeras de emergencias y de la Unidad de terapia intensiva Turquía/2015 (6) Turkish Journal of Emergency Medicine Transversal Enfermeros, Técnico de ambulancias y Médicos de emergencias Estados Unidos/2015 (32) Critical Care Nursing Transversal Enfermeros de emergencias Estados Unidos/2016 (33) Journal of Forensic Nursing Revisión narrativa Enfermera y profesionales de la salud de emergencias Estados Unidos/2018 (34) Emergency Nurses Association Comunicación breve Enfermeros de emergencias Brasil/2019 (7) Forensic Science International Transversal Profesionales de urgencias del Hospital de Urgencias de Sergipe…”

Forensic patients in the emergency department: Who are they and how should we care for them?

“…The deceased forensic patients included victims of gunshots, stab wounds, motor vehicle and pedestrian vehicle accidents. Healthcare providers were able to identify some groups of forensic patients but need to familiarize themselves with the entire forensic patient population as identified by Pasqualone [4] and Pasqualone and Michel [23,24] in Table 2. Adapted from: Pasqualone [4] and Pasqualone and Michel [23,24].…”