Written by Cathy (CJ) Carter-Snell, AFN President, PhD, RN, SANE-A, DF-AFN

Well, here we are: It’s fall! Summer kicked off with the successful AFN Indy Forensic Nursing Conference, with great attendance, both in-person and online. We look forward to the AFN Tucson Forensic Nursing Conference, September 22–24, and the AFN International Virtual Forensic Nursing Conference, November 5–6. The speaker lineups for both upcoming events look amazing, with a good mix of clinical and research-based presentations.

One of the core missions of the Academy of Forensic Nursing is to provide members with evidence-based information to support practice. A few people have asked if that means that AFN is geared more toward graduate-prepared nurses. The answer is a resounding “NO”! Here’s why:

It is easy to get caught up in getting the work done, and we know how crazy it gets out there. But forensic nurses need to be able to speak daily to the quality of the research or evidence behind their clinical decisions. Furthermore, if you are called to court, expert-witness standards require you to use opinions based on rigorous science.

An ability to recognize trustworthy information—as well as knowing how to find it fast—is essential for clinicians. There is a lot of “junk science” out there, and even artificial intelligence creates fake references (hallucinations). It is estimated by my group of nurse editors that approximately 30% of the references in submitted articles don’t exist, because many of these articles were written with AI. In the Journal of the Academy of Forensic Nursing (JAFN), I published two articles that I hope will help: Trustworthiness of Research Results: Significant or Not? and Looking for High-Quality Research Evidence.

We also want to hear what is going on in practice. Submitting articles to JAFN is one way; presenting at the conferences is another. If you aren’t confident that you can present, write, or find the references for the topic you’d like to cover, please reach out to a member who can mentor you. We would love to help you connect.

On the flip side, there are the researchers and other graduate-prepared faculty who are engaged in teaching and research. They need to know what issues are facing those doing clinical work to ensure new and future co-workers are adequately prepared.

When academics conduct research, it should be useful, relevant, and readily accessible to clinicians. Clinician input is vital so that researchers can produce work to support practice, develop policies to support forensic nursing, and advocate for change.

Knowing what new practices are emerging allows researchers to better support the practice. Also, research and advocacy can be guided through an understanding of what needs to be fixed, improved, or what frustrates clinicians. I have always said that the best research questions come from the break room: Just listen to what staff are complaining about!

Forensic nurses with all levels of education need to work together to strengthen forensic nursing science. I heard a guest on a talk show recently (didn’t catch his name, sadly), who talked about the TV series The Littlest Hobo, which features a German shepherd as its protagonist. Apparently, there were actually seven dogs used in filming, since each one had a different skill that they needed for a specific show. One was good at searching, another at running, one looked fierce, and so on. He realized that he was good at podcasts but not at policy, politics, or advocacy. He suggested we all “find our hobos” to get the job done.

Great suggestion. Let’s find our hobos so we can move forward and let the world know the power of forensic nursing!