Evaluation of Texas Health Resources’ Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner Program

The evaluation examines whether THR’s program has affected the number of sexual assault forensic exams conducted, the wait time for the exams, and the number of patients turned away due to insufficient qualified nurses.

Project Overview

The National Policing Institute is evaluating a project of the Texas hospital chain, Texas Health Resources (THR), which is expanding their sexual assault nurse examiner (SANE) program. With funding from the Communities Foundation of Texas, THR has expanded its SANE training program, hired additional SANEs, and made sexual assault forensic exams more readily available at small rural hospitals as well as large urban emergency departments.

Methodology

The evaluation is examining how the project has affected the number of sexual assault forensic exams conducted at each THR hospital, the amount of time patients have to wait for an exam, and number of patients that are transferred away from smaller hospitals in the chain because there are no qualified nurses available to conduct a forensic exam.  In addition, we are conducting annual surveys of SANEs and exit interviews with SANEs who have left the program; interviews with law enforcement personnel, ED staff, and victim advocates; evaluating the program’s outreach and training component; and conducting small studies of interest to program management.  

Project Publications

More Information

Project Status: Completed

Location(s): Texas, USA

Research Design: Non-experimental

Research Method(s): Focus groups, Interviews, Longitudinal study, Surveys, Secondary data analysis