Program Goals
The Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) program is a multidisciplinary response intervention that aims to improve postassault care for victims, through specialized coordinated services, while also increasing reporting and prosecution rates (Campbell, Patterson, and Bybee 2012). As opposed to emergency department physicians caring for sexual assault victims, specially trained SANE nurses provide comprehensive psychological, medical, and forensic services to the victims. The goal of the program is to provide safe and privacy-conscious treatment to recent sexual assault victims in a response that coordinates health care with counseling services, forensic collection, law enforcement, and prosecution. Further, through working with police and prosecutors, the SANE program seeks to increase the sexual assault prosecution rates. Overall, the SANE program strives to minimize the victim’s physical and psychological trauma, while maximizing the probability of evidence collection and preserving physical evidence for use in the legal system, if necessary (Young et al. 1992).
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, which are likely to be primary contact points for 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 none be onsite.
Program Activities
The SANE program was designed to avoid problems with traditional hospital care of sexual assault victims by having specially trained nurses, rather than emergency department physicians, provide the first-response care to sexual assault victims. The program guides patients through services including crisis intervention and emotional support; health care (e.g., screening for sexually transmitted infections (STIs), antibiotics for STIs, pregnancy testing, and emergency contraception); injury detection and treatment; and forensic medical evidence collection. Moreover, SANE program staff work with police and prosecutors to offer ongoing case consultation and, if the case goes to trial, may testify as expert witnesses. To address victims’ psychological needs, SANE focuses on treating the victim with dignity and respect to ensure the victim is not traumatized by the exam, and works with local rape crisis centers to provide additional emotional support to victims (Campbell, Patterson, and Bybee 2012).
In addition to the extensive post-assault services for rape victims, SANE provides law enforcement personnel and prosecutors with valuable resources, including state-of-the-art medical forensic evidence, in an effort to increase the rate prosecution rate. This evidence includes a comprehensive head-to-toe examination of the survivor’s body to check, document, and treat any injuries that resulted from the assault (Campbell, Patterson, and Fehler-Cabral 2010). Further, the SANE program uses forensic equipment that is often not offered in traditional hospital emergency departments, such as a colposcope, which detects anogenital microlacerations, bruises, and other injuries. These results are then immediately sent to the police and prosecutors; and, if the case is tried, the results are presented in court (Campbell, Patterson, and Fehler-Cabral 2010). Overall, the SANE program uses comprehensive care that involves the efforts of multiple service providers to assist the victims in their recovery and increase prosecution rates. (Campbell, Patterson, and Bybee 2012).
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.
