Sexual assault nurse examiner training combats inequities in rural communities
March 25, 2019
Two dozen nurses from across the state came to the University of Minnesota School of Nursing last week to learn about forensic nursing and the specialized area of caring for sexual assault patients as a sexual assault nurse examiner (SANE).
The nurses came from rural communities like Owatonna, Glencoe, Waite Park and Onamia and as far away as North Dakota and Michigan for the training, which was offered by the Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault and the School of Nursing.
“We know there are not SANE nurses all across Minnesota. There is a huge inequity in the care that people who have been sexually assaulted in greater Minnesota receive,” said Linda Walther, RN, SANE-A, SANE-P, who co-led the training and has been a sexual assault nurse examiner for 12 years.
To help combat that inequity, Walther travels to hospitals in rural Minnesota to train staff how to complete a sexual assault exam. Oftentimes that leads to the desire to learn more and attend the week-long training. “That’s how we have been able to have as many people as possible from outstate Minnesota come to the Twin Cities to complete the training,” said Walther.
Topics included an overview of forensic nursing, victim responses, medicolegal history taking and specimen collection, among others. The nurses heard from an assistant county attorney and a victim/survivor who graduated from the school’s Doctor of Nursing Practice program and is now a SANE nurse.
Walther said there are about 100 practicing SANE nurses in Minnesota. “It’s a really difficult training, but the work itself is incredibly rewarding,”.
Emily Lange, a nurse manager at a safe home and shelter for sex trafficking victims in Waite Park, said she sought out the training to be able to provide better trauma-informed care. “The forensic piece of this is definitely what I needed,” said Lange, who has been providing care to sex trafficking victims for five years.
“Co-hosting this professional development workshop for experienced nurses who are interested in becoming sexual assault nurse examiners is another example of our commitment to improving the health of all Minnesotans,” said Professor Carolyn Porta, PhD, MPH, RN, SANE-A, FAAN, who co-led the training. “Some of the nurses trained this week will be the first and only forensic nurse in their Minnesota community and will be positioned to lead evidence-based forensic nursing care for sexual violence survivors seeking care at their hospitals.”