Hidden in plain sight: New partners for forensic nursing education

•Students can demonstrate specific AACN Essentials subcompetencies through simulation.•Interdisciplinary simulations aimed at supporting vulnerable populations fill curricular gaps.•Nursing programs can collaborate with less apparent partners on campus. Breaking disciplinary silos and increasing understanding for students has the potential to transform the future of healthcare, yet it can be challenging to develop interdisciplinary simulations. While integrating the AACN Essentials into a new course about forensics in the healthcare setting, innovative simulation design helped undergraduate nursing and pre-health track science students demonstrate specific sub-competencies. The simulations resulted in self-reported increased student learning. With simulation-based experiences in both healthcare and chemistry lab settings, nursing faculty and students, science faculty and students interested in health sciences, public safety, and counseling services are ubiquitous to institutions of higher learning that house nursing programs and are all great partners in designing simulations in the interdisciplinary forensic science field.