Sexual assault victims in some rural areas are now able to get examinations through telemedicine services

Nurse Lindee Miller stands with the cart used for teleSANE exams at
Avera St. Mary’s Hospital in Pierre, S.D. (Photo by Arielle Zionts, KHN)

Until recently, rural sexual assault victims who sought medical care faced multiple hurdles to simply get to a hospital. Through advances in telehealth exams, that reality is changing, reports Arielle Zionts of Kaiser Health News.

Zionts presents the example of a nurse in Eagle County, Colorado: "Amanda Shelley was sitting in her dentist’s waiting room when she received a call from the police. A local teenage girl had been sexually assaulted and needed an exam. . . . She went to her car and called a telehealth company to arrange an appointment with a sexual assault nurse examiner, or SANE. The nurse examiners have extensive training in how to care for assault survivors and collect evidence for possible criminal prosecution. . . . About an hour later, Shelley met the patient at the Colorado Mountain Medical urgent care clinic in the small town of Avon. She used a tablet to connect by video with a SANE about 2,000 miles away, in New Hampshire."

The exam process involves "the remote nurse using the video technology to speak with the patient and guide Shelley through each step of a two-hour exam. One of those steps was a colposcopy," Zionts reports. "The remote nurse saw, in real-time, what Shelley could see, with the help of a video camera attached to the machine."

Zionts writes, "The service, known as 'teleSANE,' is new at Shelley’s hospital. Before, sexual assault patients faced mountains of obstacles — literally — when they had to travel to a hospital in another county for care." Shelley told Zionts, "We’re asking them to drive maybe over snowy passes and then [be there] three to four hours for this exam and then drive back home — it’s disheartening for them. They want to start the healing process and go home and shower.”

TeleSANE services are "expanding across the country in rural, sparsely populated areas," Zionts reports. "Research shows SANE programs encourage psychological healing, provide comprehensive health care, allow for professional evidence collection, and improve the chance of a successful prosecution."