"Wow, in nursing school we were forbidden to ever try to enter the forensic psych unit. It was completely off limits to students. "
Don't know where or when you went to nursing school, but we weren't "trying to enter" the forensic psych ward. We were ASSIGNED to it. Located inside Western Psychiatric Hospital in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Which is now part of UPMC (University of Pittsburgh Medical Center) but was not affiliated with UPNC then.
On this same unit, we also got to sit in a little row of theatre-type chairs behind a two way mirror that looked into a psychiatrists office and observe interviews with patients. And yes, we did work directly with the patients, under the supervision of an R.N.
I know that different schools are different with their clinical rotations. My own daughter who attended a 4 yr. school and obtained a BSN never had some of the clinical experiences I received at a hospital-based program. In addition, her course requirements were not exactly the same. IE: She never had to take Microbiology, I did.
Actually - and this was at very well known University nursing program here in Pittsburgh - she never had ANY clinical until she was in her third year! (They have since changed that, because of the high drop-out rate at that point.)
My school had an excellent, excellent program. And I was not a kid out of high-school when I attended. I was in my 40's.