Exploring and Understanding the Factors that May Influence the Outlook of Registered Nurses Regarding Potential Criminal Evidence Identification, Collection and Preservation on Patients Presented to Them.

摘要

Registered nurses are one of the many medical personnel who are located within a healthcare setting. Their presence in a healthcare setting provides them the high probability of encountering a victim or suspect of a crime who arrives for treatment as a result of the actions experienced during the commission of that crime. As a part of the medical personnel team within that healthcare setting treating that victim or suspect, the registered nurse will have the potential opportunity to encounter both physical evidence that may be present on that patient, or verbal evidence that may be disclosed by that patient during the course of their treatment.;This dissertation study, which focuses on using a newly created and validated tool, is non-experimental, descriptive, cross-sectional and correlational in design. This dissertation study utilized newly created survey tool which was validated through a Delphi technique. The survey tool measured four key domains conceived by the PI who took into account both the literature and personal experiences. The results of the survey tool were analyzed utilizing descriptive statistics and non-parametric statistical analyses.;The results revealed that the outlook of the registered nurse is positive; the domain scores showed an association with the outlook scores; the domain scores have no association on the registered nurses' current assignment within the healthcare setting and specific domains demonstrated a positive relationship between each other.;In conclusion, the survey provided a basis and merit for how the registered nurse performs their duties and how they interact with victims and suspects of criminal activity being treating for their injuries.