The approach of emergency nurses to forensic cases: Evaluation of knowledge levels on the case scenario

This research was conducted as a descriptive study to determine knowledge levels of emergency nurses' approaches to forensic cases with case scenarios. This research was conducted between 31.03. 2021 and 15.05.2021 with 264 nurses, who accept participating in this study, working in the emergency departments of 13 public and 2 university hospitals located within the borders of Bursa province. The data in this study were collected with a questionnaire containing the socio-demographic characteristics of the nurses and the scenarios developed to determine their approaches to forensic cases. In data analysis, Kolmogorov Smirnov test, Mann Whitney-U test, T-Test, One-Way Analysis of Variance test, and Kruskal Wallis test were used. In the study, it was determined that the general knowledge level of nurses' approaches to forensic cases was 46.09 (±12.45), the mean knowledge level of nurses in the 21-30 age group was higher than the other age groups. In terms of total working hours and working time in the emergency department, the knowledge level of nurses with 1-5 year working time in ER was determined statistically significantly higher than those with other working periods (p<0,05). Regarding the forensic evaluation items in forensic case management, the highest mean of knowledge levels were 54.62 (±25.92) in the physical examination and 53.03 (±23.20) in the identification of evidence while the lowest mean of knowledge level was 28,10 (±18,68) in the storage of evidence. In conclusion; It is recommended to meet the requirements such as developing training programs both during the education period and after starting the profession so that nurses have good knowledge, who have an important role in fulfilling the concepts of health and justice in the approach to forensic cases in emergency services.