04/26/2026
Shared from Rachel Ekross, PhD, FNP, AFN, FAAN
Center for Forensic Nursing Excellence
A call to action for the forensic nursing community...
I have spent my career watching forensic nurses do extraordinary work at the intersection of health and justice, work that most people never see, in moments that define whether those affected by violence get care, whether evidence is preserved, and whether justice is even possible.
I have watched this specialty build itself from the ground up. I know what it took. Which is why the dissolution of IAFN is not just news. It is a call to pay attention to what comes next, and to make sure the right people are in the room when it gets decided.
The International Association of Forensic Nurses, the organization that has been the professional home of this specialty for over three decades, has dissolved. More than 6,000 members across 25 countries now find themselves absorbed into a larger emergency nursing organization. SANE certifications are moving to a new credentialing body. Our foundational Scope and Standards are mid-revision, and as forensic nursing's organizational infrastructure is being rebuilt, community engagement in that process is more important than ever.
And in the middle of all of this, the Academy of Forensic Nursing is doing the hard work of stepping into that gap, building the specialty-dedicated professional home that forensic nursing needs. Bylaws. Policy statements. Governance. The infrastructure that most nurses never think about until it's gone.
I have been a part of this specialty long enough to know that moments like this one are not just crises. We are in the midst of defining moments. The decisions made in the next 12 to 24 months about credentialing, about standards, about who shows up to shape the governance of our professional organizations will determine what forensic nursing looks like for the next generation of nurses and, more importantly, for the people we serve.
Forensic nurses serve at the place where health and justice intersect for everyone because violence does not discriminate by age, race, gender, geography, or circumstance. Our patients represent the full range of human experience, including those who have experienced violence and those accused of causing it. That breadth is exactly why our professional infrastructure matters as much as it does, and why its erosion carries consequences far beyond our own community of practice.
So I wrote something. A call to action for every forensic nurse, educator, leader, and advocate in my network. It is longer than my usual posts, and I make no apologies for that. This moment deserves the length.
If you are a forensic nurse or you care about what happens to the people who do this work, I hope you will read it and share it.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/call-action-forensic-nursing-community-ekroos-phd-fnp-afn-faan-nhuwc?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_ios&utm_campaign=share_via
I have spent my career at the intersection of healthcare and justice, watching forensic nurses show up again and again for patients whom other systems have failed. I have seen this specialty grow from a grassroots movement into a recognized discipline with defined standards, credentialed practitione
