An advanced nursing class hosted by King’s Daughters MedicalCenter last week has produced 23 certified nurses trained toprovide patient care to victims of sexual assault.

Nurses from Corinth to McComb, including seven of KDMC’s own,participated in the Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners course lastweek. It is a 40-hour class that includes classroom review, liveexaminations, photography instruction and even a mock run-throughin the courtroom.

“For us as nursing professionals, anything we can do to improveour assessment skills and patient care will benefit any patient wetake care of,” said Elise Turner, education coordinator for theMississippi Coalition Against Sexual Assault. “Specific forensicnursing skills benefit the patients because they will have expertnurses that can identify risk factors and develop a patient careplan.”

Turner said the course teaches nurses how to gather a completepatient history, perform a comprehensive physical assessment andcollect samples for evidence. The end goal of the program is tobetter equip nurses to provide patient care to victims of sexualassault, while also training them to properly document the case andcollect evidence to be passed on to the criminal justicesystem.

“In medical school and nursing school, you might get a briefoverview, but this is really a specialty area of practice formedical folks,” Turner said. “This is an advanced type of practicefor a nurse – we would not expect a graduate student who got out ofschool in May to perform this type of care.”

The class teaches the advanced nursing techniques not onlythrough classroom study, but through hands-on participation.

The SANE course brings in volunteers who have simulated sexualassault injuries and allows the nurses to examine and document theinjuries. Nurses are trained on what to look for in a sexualassault injury and how to collect the evidence.

“There are several hours of hands-on practice until the nursesfeel confident in practicing the skills,” Turner said. “We don’twant the first time the nurse uses these skills to be on an actualpatient – we want the nurses to have these skills and be confidentthe first time she deals with a sexual assault patient.”

After the nurses in the SANE course complete the laboratory andhands-on examinations, the final day of the course is used to trainnurses how to testify.

The entire course moved Friday to the chancery court room in theBrookhaven-Lincoln County Government Complex, where Circuit JudgeMike Taylor presided over a mock trial in which each of the 23participating nurses took the stand. The nurses were “defended” byspecial assistants to the attorney general and “prosecuted” bytheir SANE instructors.

“Part of the questions in my cross examination were to attackthe patient,” said Elizabeth C. Hocker, executive director of theMississippi Children’s Justice Center. “I wanted to attack them aswitnesses. The nurses had to draw on a lot of their training torefute my attacks. The purpose of this trial is to increase theircompetency and confidence level on the stand.”

Overall, SANE instructors and their pupils felt the course was asuccess. One veteran nurse from KDMC could testify to the advancedknowledge bestowed upon her.

“I’ve taken several courses, and a lot you take only give youbook content – you learn and then take a test,” said KDMC nurseRhonda Smith. “This course gives you the full experience. I havedone sexual assault kits before, and at that point it was justreading the instructions on the and doing it. This course shows thewhole picture – why I do what I do and how my job relates to otherpeople’s jobs.”

KDMC officials were more than pleased the SANE course was hostedin Brookhaven and that seven of the hospital’s nurses enrolled.

“We requested this course because we felt like it was importantfor our nurses and our community to be able to help take care ofpeople who are victims of sexual assault,” said KDMC EmergencyMedical Services Director Terry Singleton. “It’s a wonderful thingfor the community and people who are victims of sexual assault tohave someone who is properly trained and able to take care of theirneeds.”

The SANE course is provided by the Mississippi Coalition AgainstSexual Assault and administered through the state attorneygeneral’s office. It meets all the requirements for certificationlisted by the International Association of Forensic Nurses.