title: Standards of practice for forensic mental health nurses--identifying contemporary practice.
abstract: Forensic mental health nursing is a recognized field of nursing in most countries. Despite a growing body of literature describing aspects of practice, no publication has been found that captures the core knowledge, skills, and attitudes of forensic mental health nurses. One group of nurses in Australia have pooled their knowledge of relevant literature and their own clinical experience and have written standards of practice for forensic mental health nursing. This paper identifies the need for standards, provides a summary of the standards of practice for forensic mental health nurses, and concludes with how these standards can be used and can articulate to others the desired and achievable level of performance in the specialty area.
authors.affiliation: Author Affiliations: 1Forensicare, Victoria, Australia, 2Monash University, and 3Central Queensland University.
authors.forename: Trish
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.forename: Tessa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Maguire
authors.forename: Chris
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Quinn
authors.forename: Jo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ryan
authors.forename: Louise
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bawden
authors.forename: Monica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Summers
mesh_terms: D001315:Australia; D003156:Community Mental Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D053604:Forensic Nursing / Q000592:standards*; D005555:Forensic Psychiatry / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000451:nursing*; D016294:Models, Nursing; D024802:Nurse's Role; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D015403:Nursing Evaluation Research; D016272:Occupational Health; D057184:Practice Patterns, Nurses' / Q000592:standards*