Japanese Professors Focus on Forensic Nursing at Duquesne

Five members of the nursing faculty from The Japanese Red Cross Kyushu International College of Nursing came to campus last week to learn about the forensic nursing program at Duquesne’s School of Nursing.

Aiming to launch a forensic nursing program of their own in Japan, the visitors came to learn how forensic nursing functions in clinical practice in the United States as well as to understand the relationships among forensic nursing and the fields of law and legislation. Each of the five professors possessed credentials in a unique field: legal nursing, psychiatric and mental health nursing, midwifery, nursing management, and gender and violence studies.

At Duquesne, they met with Professor Kathleen Sekula, director of the forensic nursing graduate programs and an internationally recognized pioneer in the field; Assistant Professor Alison Colbert, chair of graduate nursing programs; and Professor Rick Zoucha, whose field of expertise is in transcultural nursing.

According to Sekula, the Japanese professors were interested in a range of subjects, from curriculum development to government policy.

“They were well prepared for their visit, and had many questions regarding the significant needs of the Japanese people to have nurses prepared in forensic nursing,” Sekula observed. “They recognize that in order to mitigate the effects of violence on victims as well as perpetrators, nurses have to be prepared to meet these needs.”

During their two-week visit to the United States, the Japanese nursing professors also met with forensic nursing specialists in Texas, Colorado and Boston.