Caring in forensic nursing. Expanding the holistic model

Nurses have practiced forensic nursing for many years without formal recognition of the domain as a discipline for specialized study. Forensic nursing expands the traditional concept of holism to include the medical-legal aspects of potential or actual client problems. The American Nurses Association (ANA) and the International Association of Forensic Nurses (IAFN) recently have designated forensic nursing as a unique specialty. Recognition of forensic nursing as a specialty area of practice within nursing mandates that the specialty define and explicate its major conceptual base. A concept germane to the practice of forensic nursing is that of caring. Caring as a central concept to the role of this specialty is discussed, and the implications for its inclusion in a curriculum preparing forensic nurses are explored.