| Summary: | Emergency department personnel have distinct responsibilities: to promptly identify patients who have been victims of terrorism; to preserve associated forensic evidence; and to concurrently safeguard other patients, personnel, and the community. Knowledge of the agents used as terrorist weapons as well as proper handling of each is vital for all of these processes. Emphasis of this article will be on the role of forensic nurses and other healthcare clinicians in regard to the identification, collection, and preservation of evidentiary materials that will assist authorities in analyzing the terrorist event, and hopefully determining the identity of the perpetrators or preventing another attack.
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