Medical Response to Adult Sexual Assault

Linda E. Ledray is the founder and director of the Minneapolis-based Sexual Assault Resource Service (SARS), one of the first SANE programs, which she developed in 1977. SARS provides competent forensic-medical services to sexual assault survivors at seven hospital sites in Hennepin County, MN. Dr. Ledray is also an adjunct faculty member at the University of Minnesota where she has taught in the School of Nursing and the Psychology Department. She has been active in humanitarian relief missions to Honduras, Thailand, and Bosnia and she has taught nationally and internationally on the topic of victim assistance, SANE-SART program development, and program evaluation. Dr. Ledray was on active duty mobilized at the 2nd General Hospital in Landstuhl, Germany. Dr. Ledray is the section editor for the Journal of Emergency Nursing, SANE section and has published many articles and books including Recovering from Rape (1994) and the Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner Development and Operation Guide (1999). She is also a contributing editor for the International Travel News.

Ann Wolbert Burgess, DNSc, APRN, BC, FAAN, is a professor of psychiatric nursing at the William F. Connell School of Nursing, at Boston College. She and Kathleen Brown are codirectors of the sexual assault nurse examiner training program at the University of Pennsylvania. She is a clinical specialist in psychiatric and mental health nursing, has a private practice, and provides expert testimony on forensic issues in court.

Angelo Giardino is the medical director of Texas Children's Health Plan, a clinical associate professor of pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine, and an attending physician for the Texas Children's Hospital's forensic pediatrics service at the Children's Assessment Center in Houston, Texas. Dr. Giardino completed his residency and fellowship training in pediatrics at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Immediately after his fellowship training, Dr. Giardino became the assistant, and then the associate, medical director at Health Partners of Philadelphia, where he had primary responsibility for utilization management, intensive case management, and health care data analysis. He also shared responsibility for the plan's quality improvement program. Additionally, Dr. Giardino began the Child Abuse and Neglect Team for Children with Special Health Care Needs, which was funded by a three-year grant from a local philanthropist. In 1998, he was appointed associate chair of clinical operations in the Department of Pediatrics at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), and in June of 1999, he was asked to chair the CHOP Quality Committee. These accomplishments are only a few of his career.

Doody's Review: 4 Stars
Covering topics ranging from date rape and drug-facilitated assault to sexual homicide, Medical Response to Adult Sexual Assault is part of the new Sexual Assault line from STM Learning. Written to expand on the information in the original Sexual Assault and to include multimedia resources, this new volume contains all new information by experts in the field. Armed with the vital knowledge contained within this volume, professionals working within medical, law enforcement, legal, social service, and other relevant fields would be able to confidentaly and knowledgably diagnose, treat, and help to prevent adult sexual assault.

Anna Jarrett, PhD, CNS, ACNP, BC
Washington Regional Medical Center

In Medical Response to Adult Sexual Assault, Dr. Ledray leads the way for medical and allied health professionals to improve their medical care giving to this population. According to the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network, in 2007 there were 243,300 victims of adult sexual assault in the United States. This population has specific unmet needs, some of which can be met with the emergence into practice of the content knowledge from Dr. Ledray’s book. This text is comprehensive in scope, covering the history of specialization care, categorizations of victims of adult sexual assault with common threads for identification and treatment, and includes a chapter on evidence collection, preservation, and identification that will strongly support the legal machinations that must occur. This text should become a necessary and well-worn resource to medical professionals working with adult sexual assault victims.

Karyn E. Holt, CNM, PhD
Associate Clinical Professor
Drexel University
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Medical Response to Adult Sexual Assault offers a comprehensive, holistic, and collaborative approach to adult sexual assault, and is an invaluable resource to any professional who may provide care to this population. This book provides the content and framework to expand and improve the quality of an interdisciplinary assessment and treatment of adult sexual assault. This resource also provides a broader scope of the specific dynamics of the adult sexual assault response in settings such as the military and college campuses, and informs the reader with greater understanding of the male sexual assault victim, elder sexual abuse, and human trafficking. Having all the relevant content in one textbook like this is an effective and informative tool for professionals in health care as well as other important disciplines serving these victims.

Philip V. Scribano, DO, MSCE
Associate Professor of Pediatrics
College of Medicine
Ohio State University
Columbus, Ohio

Medical Response to Adult Sexual Assault is an outstanding text that mimics an encyclopedia as it covers a wide range of pertinent issues that include historical, medical, SANE, and legal perspectives. The book provides hard-to-find information about topics such as conducting a sexual assault examination, providing courtroom testimony, and identifying the complexities associated with crimes against vulnerable individuals, such as the elderly and incarcerated. The seasoned contributors bring the content alive with their experience, anecdotes, and superb writing. This text is most worthy of some precious space on your bookshelf.

Carol Anne Marchetti, PhD, RNCS, SANE
Southeast Regional Coordinator
MA Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner Program
Boston, Massachusetts

The authors of Medical Response to Adult Sexual Assault provide an invaluable resource for the professionals who collaborate to provide services to victims of sexual assault. The range of chapters and the comprehensiveness with which each chapter is written demonstrates a complete and detailed understanding of the issues associated with sexual assault cases. The reader will find that reference and the use of this resource to be most rewarding. This superbly edited text by three of the most well-respected clinicians in the area of sexual assault will undoubtedly become a standard in educational settings across a diverse professional spectrum.

L. Kathleen Sekula, PhD, APRN-BC
Associate Professor
Director, Forensic Graduate Programs
School of Nursing
Duquesne University
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

This text is a must read for all health care professionals who work in hospital emergency departments and other professionals who come in contact with sexual assault victims. Topics covered include the history and importance of SARTs; physiological and psychological consequences of sexual assault; conducting the examination; collecting evidence; and qualifications of SART members. Registered nurses interested in becoming SANEs will find this text particularly informative. This text clearly articulates the highest standards of care and is both a valuable reference book and an excellent instructional source for educating professionals in the care of sexual assault victims.

Ana Maria Catanzaro, RN, PhD
Associate Professor
Chair, Master of Science in Nursing Programs
Holy Family University
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania