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Unusual Nurses 3_No Ginn 2 box 4/2/10 6:02 PM Page 22 The Detective Diana Emerson,RN, NP Photos by Lauren Reid D iana emerson was getting ready to head home after a long day of interviewing childhood sexual abuse victims when the call came in from police: They were bringing in a local woman who had spent the day tied up while two burglars ransacked her home, ate her food and demanded that she write each of them checks for $500. She was sexually assaulted during the ordeal and her husband was tied and beaten in the other room. When the woman arrived at the San Mateo Medical Center emergency room in San Mateo, California, she was covered in bruises and wearing only a robe. The home invasion had started at 9:30 a.m., when she was just getting ready for the day. Emerson, a nurse practitioner and the clinical coordinator of a forensic medical unit for the Keller Center for Family Violence Intervention, did a quick but thorough physical exam to make sure she didn't have immediate medical needs and then put her in a wheelchair to bring her to her office. 22 N AT I O N A L N U R S E Over the next hour Emerson and a police detective talked to the shaken woman, gathering any information they could get to help identify and apprehend the suspects. The woman asked to be alone with Emerson for the next portion of her visit—a grueling, three-hour-long forensic exam of her body, in which Emerson took pictures in triplicate of every bruise, every mark left by the material used to bind her arms , and every bit of duct tape residue on her wrists. She ran a black light over the woman's body looking for organic material and performed a pelvic exam to collect DNA samples from the man who assaulted her and treat any injuries she sustained. She also collected a few strands of the woman's long, dark hair in case any of her hairs clung to the men as they fled in her truck. "Her body is a crime scene," said Emerson, 55, who worked as a certified nurse aide, LPN and RN before becoming a nurse practitioner and getting a master's degree in forensic nursing. "Our exams are always two-fold: One is for the medical management and treatment of injuries. The other is for forensic evidence. It requires all your assessment nursing skills." In the end, Emerson gave the woman a pair of sweats and helped her call her husband, who was taken to the local Kaiser Permanente hospital for treatment of his injuries. She talked to her about possible sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy, and she offered her referrals to counseling services to help her deal with the fallout of W W W. N A T I O N A L N U R S E S U N I T E D . O R G MARCH 2010