Program Goals
The Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) program aims to provide specialized and coordinated services to victims of sexual assault during their first contact with the health care environment. The goal of the program is to provide safe and privacy-conscious treatment to very recent victims of sexual assault in a response that coordinates health care with counseling services, forensic collection, law enforcement, and prosecution.
Target Population
The SANE program extends services to recent victims of sexual assault when activated by a referral from participating medical services, law enforcement, or other services. SANE Units are stationed at hospitals, and likely to be primary contact points with victims of sexual assault. However, participating emergency rooms (ERs), police departments, and rape crisis centers contact the program to dispatch a SANE nurse and a rape crisis advocate, should there be none onsite.
Services Provided
The program guides patients through services including medical treatment, treatment for sexually transmitted infections (STIs), emergency contraception, contact with law enforcement, collection of forensic samples, and referrals to other services in a secure and private manner. This is done to provide services to the victim in a more environmentally appropriate manner, to address health care and law enforcement concerns, and to try to provide a swifter and less traumatic service delivery.
From referral, victims are assessed for their need for medical treatment. Depending on the victims’ medical needs, either a SANE nurse and rape crisis advocate can be dispatched onsite or the victim can be discharged to a SANE Unit, where a forensic exam can be conducted if desired. Additionally, the SANE nurse offers STI testing and treatment as well as emergency contraception. Finally, a police interview can be arranged if the victim desires before she (or he) is discharged, often with referrals to multiple services. If criminal proceedings are brought against a person suspected of sexual assault, the SANE nurse who examined the victim can testify in court.
Key Personnel
The Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner program, as the name suggests, relies heavily on SANE nurses, but it also requires the sustained involvement and availability of rape crisis advocates. The program requires the cooperation and widespread knowledge of its services among hospital ERs, law enforcement agencies, and prosecutorial services.
Program Theory
The SANE program aims to provide better health outcomes and to increase the proper forensic collection of data, and also to ultimately increase prosecutions in cases of sexual assault. The program achieves this by offering a range of coordinated services adapted to sexual assault victims’ needs at the point of contact with health or law enforcement services, instead of regular ER services—which deprive the victim of the privacy she (or he) may require in such a traumatic situation. By offering these services in a victim-sensitive manner, the SANE program aims to increase the likelihood of their uptake, which should increase positive health outcomes for victims and increase law enforcement’s odds of intercepting and prosecuting persons suspected of the crime.
