44 American Nurse Today Volume 13, Number 12 AmericanNurseToday.com tion to promote healthier communities and nations. Learn more about forensic nursing Nurses have always provided care to victims and perpetrators of violence. Forensic nursing expands that role to individuals and communities to promote recovery, health, and justice. To learn more about forensic nursing, visit the IAFN website (IAFN.org). Note that many states have IAFN chapters with contact information. You also can read more about forensic nursing in the official peer-reviewed journal of IAFN, Journal of Forensic Nursing, and in American Nurse Today (americannursetoday.com/forensic -nurses-strides-social-justice/). Julie L. Valentine is an assistant professor at Brigham Young University College of Nursing in Provo, Utah, and a forensic nurse with Wasatch Forensic Nurses in Salt Lake City, Utah. Selected references Amar A, Sekula LK. A Practical Guide to Forensic Nursing: Incorporating Forensic Principles into Nursing Practice. Indianapolis, IN: Sigma Theta Tau International; 2016. American Nurses Association and International Association of Forensic Nurses. Forensic Nursing: Scope and Standards of Practice. 2nd ed. Silver Spring, MD: American Nurses Association; 2017. Price B, Maguire K, eds. Core Curriculum for Forensic Nursing. Elkridge, MD: International Association of Forensic Nurses; 2016. Smith S, Zhang X, Basile K, et al. The national intimate partner and sexual violence survey: 2015 data brief. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; 2017. Standing By, Ready to Serve: The Case for Forensic Nurses in Uniform LT Michelle Ortiz, NC USN ABSTRACT The purpose of this article was to give a brief synopsis of the background and history of forensic nursing and how it can be translated into a military application. The unique setting of military health care and equally distinctive stressors placed upon members of the military calls for greater commitment by the Department of Defense to meet those needs with trained professionals who can offer holistic and appropriate care, both at home and abroad. INTRODUCTION In many respects, forensic nursing is a new concept, but in reality, it is as old as the nursing profession itself. According to Stevens,1 all nurses function as forensic scientists daily in their profession because everything a nurse documents can be used as evidence in a court of law. Anytime a patient injury becomes the basis for a criminal action or lawsuit, a nurse’s forensic skills are put under scrutiny. Scrupulous documentation provides protection for the nurse, evidence for a client, and testimony for the court.2 Professional judgment, intuition, actions, interventions, and documentation will be placed under the legal “microscope” for review. Many nurses are practicing forensic nursing and do not realize it.3 Virginia Lynch is credited as the pioneer and founder of forensic nursing as a modern day scientific discipline. Lynch defines forensic nursing as “the application of the nursing process to public or legal proceedings, and the application of forensic health care in the scientific investigation of trauma and/or death related to abuse, violence, criminal activity, liability, and accidents.”4 Forensic nursing was initially recognized in 1991 during the 43rd Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Forensic Science. In 1992, 70 nurses from 31 various Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) programs throughout the United States and Canada met in Minneapolis, Minnesota to create the International Association of Forensic Nurses (IAFN). This diverse group of professionals created a fellowship and formed a kinship in the field of nursing that had previously been largely unacknowledged and unsupported by its peers.5 In 1995, the American Nurses Association formally recognized forensic nursing as a specialty. This recognition gave it “legitimacy” as a part of the profession and laid the foundation for forensic nursing to mature as an art and a science. Since that first meeting of the IAFN in 1992, the organization’s membership has increased and its scope of practice has been established. In addition to SANE nurses, the group now counts among its ranks various disciplines of the forensic sciences: death investigators, child abuse experts, domestic violence specialists, researchers, educators, and legal nurse consultants, among others. By January 2007, the organization had 2,532 members. A total of 952 forensic specialists have taken and passed the SANE-adult certification examination since its first offering in 2002 (K. Day, personal communication). In addition to its newsletter “On The Edge,” the IAFN organization launched the “Journal of Forensic Nursing,” a peer-reviewed journal, in 2005. The validity of IAFN was confirmed on January 11, 2002, in the case of Eduardo V. Velazquez vs. Commonwealth of Virginia. It is on this date that the Supreme Court of the State of Virginia issued an opinion that solidified the legitimacy of forensic nurses testifying as expert witnesses and offering opinion testimony. This landmark case pushed forensic nursing to the next plateau of acceptance and gave the specialty further autonomy in the medicolegal arena.6 Forensic nurses can be used in every area of health care and many are already employed in various areas such as law, education,