Forensic Nursing Chronicles

Nurses are use to yearly educational requirements. Each state requires a certain amount every year just to renew a license. The federal government requires that each hospital educates it’s employees in certain areas yearly, and then there are the classes a nurse has to take to work in the areas of specialization that interest them. As I said, nurses are use to educational requirements. That is why it is so surprising to see the resistance that most nurses seem to have in regards to bio-terrorism training. I have found very few nurses that say “oh how wonderful, I get to do my bio training and use some drain tarps.” I am not sure why this is. Do we find it boring? Is it so far from what we usually train for that we have trouble grasping it? Or is it so disturbing to think about the actual event happening in our country that we don’t want to face the true possibility. Whatever the reason, I know that each time I am faced with the information, a part of me cringes away from it wanting to put up a block such as a flame retardant tarp, and I seem to have more trouble remembering the information than any other topic I study. I have often asked myself, if truly faced with a bioterrorism threat, will I rush to the hospital to help, or will I want to take my family, wrap them in canvas blankets, and run from the area to protect them. I hope that I never have to face the choice.