Advanced Practice Nurse Attitudes Toward Sex Offender Patients

Purpose: To determine advanced practice nurses\u27 (APNs\u27) attitudes and behaviors toward patients in their practices who are registered sex offenders. Data sources: An online survey of 300 APN members of a local APN organization asking respondents to identify the behavioral actions they were likely to agree or disagree with when faced with a scenario of realizing that a sex offender was a patient in their practice. Sixty-nine respondents submitted completed surveys. Conclusions: There was an ambiguity of behavioral responses and no consensus among APNs on how to respond to the issue of a sex offender patient in a healthcare practice. There was also a lack of awareness of whether sex offenders were patients in their practice. Implications for practice: The modest number of respondents and their demographic homogeneity limit the ability to draw any conclusions or generalizations from this study. While awareness of a known sex offender in a practice is unlikely to alter direct patient care, it may have an impact on office policies and procedures and should be a consideration of all involved staff, including providers, ancillary team members, and administrative personnel. © 2007 American Academy of Nurse Practitioners