Health Care Providers

Resources

• Campus
• Emergency Medical Services
• Evaluations, Assessments, and Surveys
• Mental Health
• Military
• Miscellaneous
• Multicultural
• National Protocols and Guidelines
• Organizations and Projects
• Public Health
• State and Local Protocols and Guidelines
• Suspect Exams
• Tools and Forms
• Trauma and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Campus

American College Health Association
Provides advocacy, education, communications, products, and services and promotes research and culturally competent practices to enhance the health of students and the campus community.

The Handbook for Campus Crime Reporting
Provides a step-by-step process to meet the regulatory requirements of the Clery Act, contains references to specific sections of the regulations, and provides examples of documents that can be used as models for institutions of higher education.

Healthy Campus 2010
Offers various resources for download from the Healthy Campus 2010 program, including PowerPoint presentations, health objectives, and PDF documents.

Sexual Assault on Campus: What Colleges and Universities Are Doing About It
Reviews the sexual assault policies of U.S. colleges and universities and includes recommendations for promising practices.

Emergency Medical Services

An Alternative Approach to Defining Rural for the Purpose of Providing Emergency Medical Services
Describes the unique challenges for EMS in rural areas and offers information on appropriate EMS definitions for rural areas based on service availability, population, and geographic delivery of emergency services.

Community-Based Needs Assessment: Assisting Communities in Building a Stronger EMS System
Suggests that local communities should participate in a structured planning process to determine the attributes of their local EMS systems.

Emergency Medical Services Protocol for Sexual Assault
Provides an overview of the EMS response to sexual violence.

Emergency Medical Technician Oath and Code of Ethics
Provides the oath and code of ethics adopted by the National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians.

Office of Rural Health Policy
Includes links to information concerning health care in rural areas (including emergency response).

Evaluations, Assessments, and Surveys

Efficacy of Illinois' Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) Pilot Program
Reports on the efficacy of the SANE pilot program in Illinois and provides recommendations based on the study's findings.

Impact Evaluation of a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) Program
Details the findings of an outcome evaluation of the Albuquerque SANE Collaborative.

Injuries From Violent Crime, 1992–1998
Provides statistics from the National Crime Victimization Survey, including victimization rates for rape/sexual assault, robbery, assault, homicide, and intimate partner violence; types of injuries sustained; medical treatment of injuries; characteristics of victims and offenders; and other characteristics of crimes.

A Report on the Level of Care of Sexual Assault Patients in Texas Hospital Emergency Rooms
Summarizes a survey that assessed the level of care provided to sexual assault patients in Texas hospital emergency rooms, specifically pertaining to the patient's care in the hospital before, during, and after a forensic medical examination.

Sexual Assault Evidence: National Assessment and Guidebook
Contains a survey of the collection, preservation, and use of physical evidence in sexual assault cases.

Mental Health

American Psychiatric Association
Works to ensure that people with mental disorders are treated effectively and humanely.

Center for Mental Health Services
Leads national efforts to improve mental health treatment and prevent mental health problems. Its Web site links to online publications covering rural mental health, stigma, protection and advocacy, statistics, stress and anxiety, elder issues, culture and ethnicity, and violence against women.

Cultural Competency: A Practical Guide for Mental Health Service Providers
Serves as a guide to cultural competency to be used when serving clients from diverse backgrounds.

Mental Health America
Provides a searchable database for information by audience, issue, and treatments. Formerly known as the National Mental Health Association.

Mental Health Matters
Features descriptions of mental health problems, articles, advocacy resources, and research.

National Center for Trauma-Informed Care
Offers trauma training, technical assistance, education and outreach, a speakers' bureau, and other resources. Formerly the Center on Women, Violence and Trauma.

National Institute of Mental Health
Provides information and outreach on mental health, research funding, and the field's science news.

Military

Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office
Serves as the single point of accountability for the U.S. Department of Defense's sexual assault policy. Its Web site provides guidance and other information for victims of sexual assault, unit commanders, first responders, and those who want to prevent or respond to this crime.

Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Program Procedures
Describes the protocols for the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response of the U.S. Department of Defense.

Miscellaneous

The Response to Sexual Assault—Removing Barriers to Services and Justice
Recommends ways to enhance the ability of the community, victim advocacy organizations, medical systems, criminal justice systems, and other key systems to design and support effective local and state responses for adult and adolescent victims of sexual assault.

Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) Programs: Improving the Community Response to Sexual Assault Victims
Reviews SANE programs and their contributions to improving community response to sexual assault victims, identifies promising practices in such programs, and provides practical guidelines for establishing a SANE program.

Multicultural

Asian American Health
Increases public awareness of the health concerns of Asian Americans. Links to documents, Web sites, databases, and other resources.

Black Women's Health Imperative
Highlights health issues of African-American women and girls through health education, research, advocacy, and leadership development. Formerly the National Black Women's Health Project.

Consumer Health Information in Many Languages Resources
Compiles resources that offer health information in languages other than English.

EthnoMed
Contains information about cultural beliefs, medical issues, and related issues pertinent to the health care of recent immigrants.

Maze of Injustice: The Failure to Protect Indigenous Women from Violence
Documents Amnesty International's research on sexual violence against American Indian and Alaska Native women.

Migrant Clinicians Network
Works to improve health care of migrants and other mobile poor populations by providing support, technical assistance, and professional development services to clinicians.

National Asian Women's Health Organization
Provides research and information about the health of Asian Americans to the public health field and critically needed health education to the Asian-American community.

National Center for Cultural Competence
Includes culturally and linguistically competent health promotion materials, a checklist to assist organizations with cultural and linguistic competence, and a database with links to policies, practices, articles, books, research initiatives and findings, curricula, and multimedia materials.

Native American Medicine—History & Philosophy
Reviews traditional American Indian healing.

New South Wales Multicultural Health Communication Service
Assists health professionals in communicating with non-English speaking communities. The Web site includes publications on health in a wide range of languages.

National Protocols and Guidelines

Clinical Management of Rape Survivors: Developing Protocols for Use With Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (revised edition)
Helps qualified health care providers develop protocols for managing rape survivors in emergencies, taking into account available resources, materials and drugs, and national policies and procedures. It can also be used in planning health care services and training health care providers.

Evaluation and Management of the Sexually Assaulted or Sexually Abused Patient
Provides a set of useful and practical recommendations that standardize a health care practitioner's response to sexual assault.

Final Privacy Rule Preamble
Includes standards to protect the privacy of individually identifiable health information. This Web site includes general provisions of the Privacy Rule and information about compliance.

Guidelines for Medico-Legal Care for Victims of Sexual Violence
Provides guidance for a wide range of health care professionals who come in contact with victims and describes the prevalence, dynamics, and consequences of sexual violence; service provisions; assessment and examination of victims; evidence collection; treatment and followup; child sexual abuse; and documentation and reporting.

Handbook on Justice for Victims (Chapter 3, "Front-Line Professionals," health care section)
Covers interdisciplinary approaches to victims of crime in medical settings, including emergency rooms and trauma centers, and recommends protocols for treatment, referrals, and reporting.

A National Protocol for Sexual Assault Medical Forensic Exams
Serves as a guide for criminal justice and health care practitioners who respond to victims of sexual assault.

National Training Standards for Sexual Assault Medical Forensic Examiners
Provides information for preparing sexual assault forensic examiners to coordinate with other responders to meet the health care, forensic, and information needs of adult and adolescent sexual assault patients who present for the medical forensic examination.

SANE Development and Operational Guide
Helps readers develop and operate a sexual assault nurse examiner program by incorporating forms, policies, procedures, protocols, training options, and program evaluation tools.

SANE Programs National Database
Collects data from and shares it with participating sexual assault nurse examiner programs throughout the Nation.

Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner/Sexual Assault Response Team
Provides information and technical assistance to individuals and institutions interested in developing or improving sexual assault nurse examiner programs and sexual assault response teams.

Organizations and Projects

American Telemedicine Association
Promotes access to medical care for consumers and health professionals via telecommunications technology.

International Association of Forensic Nursing
Develops, promotes, and disseminates information about forensic nursing. Its Web site provides information about forensic careers, conferences, and trainings. It also offers links to publications; sponsors listservs and chat rooms; and maintains a list of self-reported programs for sexual assault nurse examiners in the United States.

National Alliance to End Sexual Violence
Advances and strengthens public policy on behalf of state coalitions, individuals, and other entities working to end sexual violence. Its Web site includes a legislative watch list, position papers, and resources.

National Institutes of Health
Funds both basic and applied research on a wide variety of diseases (e.g., cancer, heart disease, diabetes) and discusses issues such as drug abuse, alcoholism, and mental health.

National Sexual Violence Resource Center
Presents online resources and publications, funding alerts, calendar of events, updates on special projects, and links for technical and library assistance.

National Women's Health Information Center
Provides a gateway to the vast array of resources on women's health.

Office for Victims of Crime
Enhances the Nation's capacity to assist crime victims and provides leadership in changing attitudes, policies, and practices to promote justice and healing for all victims.

Office of Justice Programs
Provides federal leadership in developing the Nation's capacity to prevent and control crime, improve the criminal and juvenile justice systems, increase knowledge about crime and related issues, and assist crime victims.

Office on Violence Against Women
Works to reduce violence against women and administer justice for and strengthen services to victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking.

Sexual Assault Forensic Examiner Technical Assistance
Provides technical assistance for the Office on Violence Against Women's National Protocol for Sexual Assault Medical Forensic Examinations of Adults/Adolescents. This Web site links to governmental agencies and resources and to trainings for forensic medical examiner, provides a national list of SANE/SART programs, and has a link for requesting technical assistance.

World Health Organization
Provides leadership on global health matters and health research agendas. Its Web site provides a range of online publications on violence and gender violence as well as health-related topics.

Public Health

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Promotes health and quality of life by preventing and controlling disease, injury, and disability. The Injury, Violence & Safety section provides information specific to sexual assault; also useful for SARTs are the Division of Reproductive Health page and the Sexually Transmitted Diseases page.

Healthfinder.gov
Links to health information from more than 1,600 government and nonprofit organizations.

Improving the Health Care Response to Domestic Violence: A Trainer's Manual for Health Care Providers
Describes how to recognize and respond to victims of intimate partner violence.

Legislative and Regulatory Resources
Links to California, federal, and other legislative and regulatory resources.

MedlinePlus
Brings together authoritative information from government agencies and health-related organizations and includes an illustrated medical encyclopedia, interactive patient tutorials, and the latest health news.

Partners in Information Access for the Public Health Workforce
Provides links to grants and funding, health data tools and statistics, education and training, conferences, and information about health promotion and education.

Public Health Information and Data: A Training Manual
Focuses on information access and management.

Sexual Violence Prevention: Beginning the Dialogue
Discusses sexual violence as a serious public health problem with short- and long-term health consequences and identifies concepts and strategies that may be used as a foundation for planning, implementing, and evaluating sexual violence prevention activities.

Substance Abuse &  Mental Health Services Administration
Provides the latest national data on substance abuse and mental health.

World Report on Violence and Health, Chapter 6: Sexual Violence
Reviews the problem of sexual violence on a global scale—what it is, who it affects, and what can be done about it.

State and Local Protocols and Guidelines

California Medical Protocol for Examination of Sexual Assault and Child Sexual Abuse Victims
Contains recommended methods for meeting the minimum legal standards established by Penal Code Section 13823.11 for performing evidential examinations.

California: San Diego County: Sexual Assault Response Team
Lists documents from the San Diego SART, including standards of practice, committee reports, and resource pamphlets in English and Spanish.

Kentucky: Developing a Sexual Assault Response Team: A Resource Guide for Kentucky Communities
Helps communities create and sustain SART programs.

Kentucky Sexual Assault Evidence Collection Protocol
Provides standardized procedures for hospitals and community facilities in Kentucky for the forensic and medical examination of adult sexual assault victims.

Maryland Sexual Assault Forensic Examiner (SAFE) Programs Statewide Needs Assessment
Reviews the findings of the Maryland SAFE Programs Needs Assessment and includes information on each program, barriers and problems facing SAFE programs, a summary of how forensic nurse examiners envision the future of SAFE programs, and key issues and recommendations for next steps.

Massachusetts: Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner Program
Improves the care for victims of sexual assault through the development of a statewide, standardized method of evidence collection and the provision of high-quality, coordinated care within the medical, legal, forensic, and advocacy communities.

New Hampshire: Sexual Assault: An Acute Care Protocol For Medical/Forensic Evaluation
Assists New Hampshire’s medical community in the care of patients reporting an acute sexual assault and maximizes the continuity of care for these patients.

New Jersey: Attorney General Standards for Providing Services to Victims of Sexual Assault
Focuses on the needs and concerns of sexual assault victims in an effort to ensure the compassionate and sensitive delivery of services in a nonjudgmental manner.

New York: Protocol for the Acute Care of the Adult Patient Reporting Sexual Assault
Assists health care providers in minimizing the physical and psychological trauma to victims of sexual assault by ensuring appropriate and consistent treatment in hospital emergency departments.

Ohio: Protocol For The Treatment Of Adult And Adolescent Sexual Assault Patients
Covers triage guidelines in a hospital setting, victim support, evidence collection, patient history, detailed exam instructions, treatment and tests, suspected drug-facilitated sexual assault, referrals, followup and release, billing and payment for exams, reporting to police, crime victim compensation, and quality assurance.

Virginia: Emergency Department Forensic Nurse Examiner Protocol for Sexual Assault Physician's Orders
Describes CarePlex Hospital's medical directives for sexual assault.

Suspect Exams

California: Forensic Medical Report: Sexual Assault Suspect Examination
Provides a suspect medical examination form.

California Medical Protocol for Examination of Sexual Assault and Child Sexual Abuse Victims
Includes suspect exam information (pp. 8–9).

North Dakota: Sexual Assault Evidence Collection Protocol (4th Edition)
Includes suspect exam information (pp. 74–76 and appendix H). Available on the Coalition Against Sexual Assault in North Dakota's Publications page.

Tools and Forms

Glossary of Forensic Terms
Lists forensic terms relevant to sexual assault and post-assault forensic exams.

Practical Guidelines on Handling Abuse Issues in Clinical Settings
Promotes, develops, and disseminates information to improve the health and expand the life choices of women with disabilities. This Web site provides 10 recommendations for physicians for raising the subject of abuse and eliciting responses.

Put Down the Chart, Pick up the Questions—A Guide for Working with Survivors of Sexual Violence
Offers information for health care providers on how to talk to their patients about sexual assault.

Screening Tools—Sexual Assault
Presents tools that can helps physicians screen patients for sexual assault.

Sexually Transmitted and Other Reproductive Tract Infections: A Guide to Essential Practice
Includes a section on treatment of sexual assault victims.

Sexually Transmitted Diseases: Treatment Guidelines
Provides treatment resources and links related to sexually transmitted diseases.

Various State Forms

• Adolescent/Adult Sexual Assault Examination Form Acute ≤ 72 Hours (State of Mississippi Crime Laboratory)
• Anonymous Sexual Assault Report Form (California State University Northridge)
• Application for the Adult Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner Program (Massachusetts Department of Public Health)
• Forensic Examination Forms (California Clinical Forensic Medical Training Center)
• Forensic Medical Report—Sexual Assault Suspect Examination (State of California, Office of Criminal Justice Planning)
• Provider Sexual Crime Report (Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety)

Trauma and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

Association of Traumatic Stress Specialists
Develops standards of service and education for those who provide emotional care to trauma victims and survivors.

Current Trends in Psychological Assessment and Treatment Approaches for Survivors of Sexual Trauma
Reviews trends in mental health assessment and treatment for sexual trauma survivors with an emphasis on early intervention. Treatment approaches are restricted to psychotherapy.

Handbook on Justice for Victims (Chapter 3, "Front-Line Professionals")
Outlines critical issues for mental health professionals.

International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies
Provides resources about traumatic stress for the public, clinicians, professionals, and the media.

National Center for PTSD, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Conducts research and provides education and training materials related to posttraumatic stress disorder.

National Center for Trauma-Informed Care
Assists publicly funded agencies, programs, and services in making the important cultural shift to an environment that is more supportive, comprehensively integrated, and empowering for trauma survivors. Its Web site includes a mental health service locator, online publications, mental health dictionary, and professional information.

National Crime Victims Research & Treatment Center
Improves the quality of mental health services provided locally and nationally to victims of crime, abuse, and trauma. Its Web site provides resources for the public and professionals and includes links to recent faculty presentations.

The National Trauma Consortium
Provides online publications and links to national organizations and training opportunities.

The Psychological Consequences of Sexual Trauma
Describes research findings on the effects of childhood and adulthood sexual victimization on women's mental health.