This internship was an overwhelming step towards the career of forensic nursing which I have plans of pursuing. The location of my internship was at the Methodist Specialty and Transplant Hospital. The mission of this organization is to redefine how patients of sexual assault are treated within the health care system of today. At Methodist Specialty and Transplant Hospital, the Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner, commonly abbreviated as SANE, or Forensic Nurse Examiner (FNE) staff makes sure that patients are seen immediately. They also guarantee that the team is compassionate to meet the wishes of the patient.
They have four designated rooms for their practice. The first room is known as the survivor’s room, it has a sit down area where the patient gets comfortable with the FNE, the chaplain, and the advocate. They also have an area dealing with evidence collection, in which no one has permission to go unless given permission by one of the FNE. The second room is recognized as the suspect room which is located some distance away from the survivor’s room. This ensures a way to prevent the suspect and the survivor from running into to each other during the examination process. The third room is known as the evidence room. This is where the FNE holds all evidence until law enforcement can collect it. However if the item that needs to be collected is liquid or is wet, an evidence tech will need to come collect it themselves. The evidence is then transferred to a crime lab where it can thoroughly be examined. The fourth room is just considered a storage room. Only the hospital staff knows which room is which, but if it were a member of the public entering the hospital they would never be able to locate where these rooms are placed. This is for the privacy of the patient as well as the suspect.
When a patient comes in, who we call a survivor, they are given their options. The forensic nurse is acknowledged as the leader of a team effort. Assisting the forensic nurse is a chaplain as well as an advocate from the Rape Crisis Center (RCC). A FNE or SANE will take pictures to provide a detailed account of bruises or point tenderness that is correlated with the survivor’s history. A ruler is always present to show size and shape of contusions or abrasions. If however technology fails, they also write down their findings on a documented sheet.
It was important to list a very descriptive account of what the survivor or suspect goes through, because as part of my duties I was able to observe and document forensic examinations. I was also able to review charts that were documented and examined pictures with a FNE. While reviewing such documentation I became familiar with the steps that I have described above. Methodology was a key aspect to a forensic evaluation and my internship coordinator stressed that. I was also able to observe a suspect exam and observe the evidence collection. I would aid the forensic nurses during the forensic evaluation, anywhere from cleaning up the table to actually being able to take pictures. As they were photographing the physical trauma, they would say out loud the size and shape of a lesion or bruise and I was required to write it down. I would organize the charts into three separate piles that were sent to law enforcement, to the SANE coordinator, and ER. I would help label the forensic evidence, but it was always the forensic nurse that would initial and seal the evidence.
Not only were FNE required to collect evidence, they were also required to be an expert witness if a subpoena was given to them about the case. Therefore I was able to view two murder trials that the FNE testified for. When a FNE testifies she or he is not testifying for the suspect nor the survivor, they are strictly there to testify for the evidence. The FNE are hired by the state, you have to be able to control your emotions and be unbiased towards the story at hand. Evidence that a FNE collects can either support the survivor or quite the contrary it can support the suspect, thus you have to be unprejudiced regardless of what your opinions might be.