Healthcare in Secure Environments: Leading a Collaborative for Forensic Nursing Education

Atlantic Canada hosts six federal and 18 provincial correctional facilities distributed across the four provinces. All employ nurses and offer significant career opportunities, yet minimal content related to forensic nursing is provided in nursing curricula. Furthermore, there is a paucity of continuing educational offerings for Canadian forensic nurses. This article describes the series of events that brought the practice of forensic nursing to the forefront of provincial news media. Actions taken by nurses in academia and practice addressed the lack of educational opportunities for forensic nurses in Atlantic Canada. One of these actions, a Knowledge Forum, was held to nurture partnerships between nurse leaders responsible for healthcare in correctional services in New Brunswick and nurse educators. The idea was to connect nurse leaders responsible for healthcare in federal and provincial jurisdictions, community liaison nurses and nurse managers working in hospital-based forensic mental health assessment units, and nurse educators, to explore nursing practice within secure environments and the current educational needs of forensic nurses.