SANE nurses needed in Camden County
The Camden County Prosecutor’s office is seeking registered nurses to become trained as forensic nurses as part of the state’s Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) program to assist rape victims and police.
The SANE program was created in 1998 to better treat sexual assault victims, Theresa McLaughlin, assistant coordinator of the Camden County SANE program, said.
“If they were assaulted and came into the nearest emergency department, they would be triaged like any other patient, and since they’re not really ‘acutely injured,’ they’d be put on the back of the list – they’d be waiting with their torn clothes, or whatever, in the main waiting room of the emergency department for hours,” McLaughlin said. “If it were your wife or daughter, you wouldn’t want that to happen, God forbid, and as they’re sitting there, we’re losing evidence.”
The standards for the SANE program’s training come directly from the New Jersey Attorney General’s office, McLaughlin said.
The program uses a Sexual Assault Response Team (SART), which comprises a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner, who is trained in forensic nursing and handles the evidentiary examination and treatment; a Rape Care Advocate, who is trained in crisis intervention; and a law enforcement officer with specialized training in the area of sexual assault.
While every county has its own SANE program, McLaughlin said Camden County’s program is the busiest in the state.
“The SANE program came about because the nurses saw that these patients weren’t being well-served, so we went for additional training to learn how to collect evidence,” McLaughlin said. “We went to forensics classes, and the board of nursing came onboard and actually had requirements that we would have to pass in order to become certified as a forensic nurse – to collect this type of evidence.”
The SANE program was created in 1998 to better treat sexual assault victims, Theresa McLaughlin, assistant coordinator of the Camden County SANE program, said.
“If they were assaulted and came into the nearest emergency department, they would be triaged like any other patient, and since they’re not really ‘acutely injured,’ they’d be put on the back of the list – they’d be waiting with their torn clothes, or whatever, in the main waiting room of the emergency department for hours,” McLaughlin said. “If it were your wife or daughter, you wouldn’t want that to happen, God forbid, and as they’re sitting there, we’re losing evidence.”
The standards for the SANE program’s training come directly from the New Jersey Attorney General’s office, McLaughlin said.
The program uses a Sexual Assault Response Team (SART), which comprises a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner, who is trained in forensic nursing and handles the evidentiary examination and treatment; a Rape Care Advocate, who is trained in crisis intervention; and a law enforcement officer with specialized training in the area of sexual assault.
While every county has its own SANE program, McLaughlin said Camden County’s program is the busiest in the state.
“The SANE program came about because the nurses saw that these patients weren’t being well-served, so we went for additional training to learn how to collect evidence,” McLaughlin said. “We went to forensics classes, and the board of nursing came onboard and actually had requirements that we would have to pass in order to become certified as a forensic nurse – to collect this type of evidence.”
