SAFE Mission: to establish a Sexual Assault Forensic Examiner (SAFE) hospital-based program that follows national protocol, best practices, providing a culture of compassionate, equitable, trauma-informed medical-forensic care to patients who present because of sexual assault and coordinates access to community supports to promote healing and justice.
SAFE Service Delivery Model provides 24 hour on-call response to patients presenting because of sexual assault to Brown University Health Emergency Departments by Sexual Assault Forensic Examiners who have been specially trained and follow the National Protocol for Sexual Assault Forensic Examinations and Rhode Island and Brown University Health specific protocols. SAFEs respond to patients 16 years of age and older, who have presented within 4 days/96 hours of a sexual assault. The SAFEs work in collaboration with Emergency Department medical providers, RNs, and multidisciplinary team members, law enforcement, and advocacy agency representatives as appropriate. Therefore, each patient must also have a physician, primary nurse assigned whose role remains the overall patient monitoring, ordering, and administering medication, and laboratory testing.
SAFE Sites:
- Hasbro Children’s emergency Department
- Rhode Island Hospital Anderson Emergency Department
- Miriam Emergency Department
- Newport Hospital Emergency Department
For more information, contact Susan Duffy, MD, MPH