Using Telehealth Technology to Serve Patients Reporting Sexual Assault: An Evaluation of Key TeleSANE Program Features.

ABSTRACT: Many communities across the country are developing, implementing, or already operating programs that provide patients with access to sexual assault nurse examiner (SANE) expertise and care through telehealth technology (e.g., teleSANE or teleSAFE). The speed at which teleSANE programs are proliferating is outpacing the available research and evaluation to inform key decisions on program development and implementation. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health SANE Program and its National TeleNursing Center decided to rapidly and temporarily convert a set of hospitals from providing in-person SANE care to remote teleSANE care. Several specific changes were made to this program's established teleSANE model for the rapid, temporary conversion. This article reports on findings from an evaluation of the temporary TeleSANE model that provide insight into key decisions that must be made in the development and implementation of teleSANE program features. Communities considering developing or already operating a teleSANE program should be intentional in making program goals, purposes, and values explicit as well as develop their program accordingly.

Laying the Foundation for the National TeleNursing Center: Integration of the Quality-Caring Model Into TeleSANE Practice.

In 2012, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) Program was awarded a grant from the Department of Justice, Office for Victims of Crime, to pilot the use of telemedicine technology to extend the reach of SANE expertise to six diverse communities across the United States. To meet the goals of this project, the National TeleNursing Center (NTC) developed a three-phase professional practice model integrating the Quality-Caring Model (QCM) to support the delivery of NTC teleSANE services. Using the QCM as a foundation for teleSANE practice ensures that patients experiencing a recent sexual assault who participate in teleSANE encounters receive quality forensic nursing care. In this article, we briefly review elements of the QCM, describe the application of the model to the NTC Professional Practice Model, and detail how teleSANEs integrate the QCM Caring Behaviors into all three phases of its model. The NTC Professional Practice Model provides a quality-based teleSANE model that may be translatable to other areas of telenursing practice.