Duties

• The primary duty of forensic nurses is to provide physical and emotional care to victims such as those who experience sexual assault. They are also called upon to provide professional testimony in criminal cases.
  
  

Specialties

• There are a number of specialties that forensic nurses can choose from, such as sexual assault nursing, correctional nursing and legal consulting.
  
  

Workplace

• Some forensic nurses work in hospitals, while others work as consultants for law enforcement agencies and insurance companies.
  
  

Education

• To become a forensic nurse you must first become a registered nurse and then earn a Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) degree with a focus on forensics.
  
  

Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner

• Forensic nurses who want to work as a sexual assault nurse examiner (SANE) need two years of experience as a registered nurse before they can take the SANE certification exam.
  
  

Salary

• According to PayScale.com, the average hourly wage for forensic nurses with one to four years of experience was $28 to $39.55 per hour as of December 2009.