MultiCare Expands SANE Training for Nurses Treating Sexual Assault Survivors

MultiCare creates training program for nurses in Washington on how to best treat sexual assault victims.

Using the Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner model, the new program will provide 40 hours of training to 300 nurses statewide, including about 100 MultiCare nurses in the Inland Northwest. An expansion of existing training, many MultiCare nurses now receive only two to four hours of training.

About 30 MultiCare nurses in the Inland Northwest have completed the 40-hour SANE training. Providence has 24 SANE-trained providers between the emergency departments at Holy Family Hospital and Sacred Heart Medical Center, as well as eight SANE members in the pediatric emergency department.

The expansion of SANE training is being funded by a $1.5 million grant from the Health Resources & Services Administration of the federal Department of Health and Human Services. Interim project director and MultiCare local nurse Jennifer Cantrell said the new training will provide “immediate and compassionate support to survivors” in MultiCare emergency departments.

“These are nurses who have additional training to be able to not only provide medical care to the patient, but also the neurobiology of trauma,” she said. “Making sure that the patient leaves the emergency room feeling like they have regained control over their body.”

During the training, nurses also learn how to conduct and collect appropriate evidence and documentation that can later be used in the prosecution of perpetrators of sexual assault, as well as how to give testimony in court when called upon.

Since 2015, Washington state has required these forensic kits collected by nurses to be tested. Last November, Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced that at least 10,000 sexual assault kits had been cleared. The testing led to at least 21 charges, including seven in eastern Washington.

The grant will also cover the cost of upgrading forensic equipment and adding forensic photography capability at MultiCare Deaconess and 15 other emergency departments across the state.

Nurses will be trained to take forensic photographs and maintain the chain of custody for confidential images so they cannot be shared with third parties who may be investigating the case.

“Injuries help paint a picture of what happened or what the patient went through,” Cantrell said.

Taking training to the next level, the project will add 15 SANE-certified nurses to the state’s workforce by the end of the three-year project period. There are fewer than 40 SANE-certified nurses statewide, including two nurses at Providence Sacred Heart and two MultiCare nurses in the region.

The 40-hour training will be held four times a year in eastern Washington state.

An additional 16-hour advanced in-person clinical course with simulated and live gynecological training aids is also available. Free courses will also be available to non-MultiCare nurses – intended to expand the project’s reach to additional rural and medically underserved areas.

“Developing SANE competencies among our nurses, with consistent protocols and expectations across our health system, will improve the quality of care and help us deepen support for this vulnerable population,” said June Altaras, MultiCare executive vice president and chief nursing officer.

Cantrell encouraged victims of sexual assault to go to the hospital for treatment.

“There are people who care, who understand, who want to help,” she said. “You don’t have to know what you have to do.

“You need to know that the first step is to come to the hospital and find the courage to say that something happened to me, that I’m not well and that I need help.”