Forensic Nurses Provide Care, Help Solve Crime

The extensive training has given Rena Lopez, RN, BSN, in the coronary care unit at the hospital, a different perspective on patient care.

"Before I was just used to the procedures—trying to take care of the patient, looking at the dressing changes, and the 'now' portion," says Lopez. "Now, the history tends to make a little more sense; instead of just packing a gunshot wound, I can explain what the wound is and why it is the way it is."

The hospital's ED is currently funded to perform the forensic evaluations by the LPD and forensically-certified nurses cannot perform the evaluations at other facilities.

"The University of Louisville, the LPD, and the medical examiners office have been completely supportive of the project and all of the nurses who are going through it," says Lopez. "It has been a wonderful experience."

Smock is currently seeking grant money to fund full-time forensic nurse positions in the hospital's ED. He says his dream is to create a three-pronged approach to forensic nurse training: providing clinical service; conducting research in forensic nursing; and educating nurses about forensic medicine.

"In the long-term, I would like to establish the University of Louisville as a national training center, so that we can bring nurses in from across the country and provide this unique and much-needed training," Smock says.