Marita Mankinen: One of Finland's first trained forensic nurses

I graduated as a midwife almost 30 years ago, and I have received further training several times during my career. For a long part of my career, I have worked at the maternity outpatient clinic, where I have specialised, among other things, in screening ultrasounds, and worked at the obstetric fear outpatient clinic. For the past five years, I have worked at the Women's Acute Centre, where my job description is vast. I treat births, pregnancy complications, initiation of births, miscarriage and abortion patients, acute care of gynecological cancer patients and work as a triage midwife. In addition, I participate in C-sections in various roles and take care of mothers who have given birth and whose babies are in infant intensive care. We also have a seri support centre, where I help victims of sexual crimes. At the Seri Support Centre, victims receive treatment, psychosocial support and we collect samples and photograph injuries for research.

I heard about forensic nurse training through a colleague who found the training online. She also considered participating, but only one of us was able to attend the training. I decided to participate in the training because I wanted to get more tools to help victims of sexual crimes, learn how to face trauma and learn more about criminal processes. In addition, I was interested in other contents of the training, which I had no previous experience of.

This training gave me significant tools for helping victims who have experienced trauma and an understanding of the laws that govern our operations. Networking with other professionals in the same field was important, and we received tips from each other to make the work easier. In particular, I learned a lot about the documentation of injuries, which is very important for the legal process.

The training was comprehensive and covered a wide range of important areas related to the work of a forensic nurse. The lecturers were professionals in the field and their lectures were interesting to follow. I felt that I was prepared to work as a legal nurse, even though it was a little unclear at the end of the training what the training entitles me to and how it could best be utilised. This was, of course, partly due to the fact that we were the first forensic nurse training in Finland. 
The training was carried out both face-to-face and remotely. The technical implementation was well organised, but we would have liked more face-to-face meetings. The simulations and case training sessions were good, and we had a great team spirit that helped with networking. The best thing about the training was its rich and diverse content and top lecturers. The education providers, Raakel Viheroksa and Aaro Mäkelä, deserve special thanks.

– The best thing about the training was its rich and diverse content and top lecturers.

Marita Mankinen

For future training, I would like the objectives and rights to be better defined in advance. The cost of the training was high, and if I had had to pay for it myself, I probably would not have participated in the training. All in all, however, the training was very useful and opened up new perspectives and networks that will enrich my working life in the future.


Text: Jasmiina Ronkainen
Picture: Marita Mankinen