New Curriculum Targets Sexual Assault Management.

LAKE BUENA VISTA, FLA. -- A new residency training program is aimed at preparing ob.gyns. to identify and manage women who've been sexually assaulted, even when the incident occurred years beforehand.

The curriculum, which was developed in conjunction with the Department of Justice, is a nod to the fact that in many areas of the country, ob.gyns. are no longer providing acute care for sexual assault victims, Dr. Melisa M. Holmes said at the annual meeting of the Council on Resident Education in Obstetrics and Gynecology and the Association of Professors of Gynecology and Obstetrics.

Sexual assault forensic examinations are a part of the Council on Resident Education in Obstetrics and Gynecology's formal learning objectives, but ob.gyns. usually don't wind up doing acute exams, which are often conducted by sexual assault nurse examiners.

In many areas of the country, the Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner program has become the standard for managing patients within the first hours of their presentation. Nurses are trained and certified to provide a forensics exam, freeing physicians of the burden of having to appear in court months afterwards.

At the same time, ob.gyns. aren't learning what to do for sexual assault victims in the long-term, said Dr. Holmes of the Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston.

In a recent survey of approximately 250 ob.gyns. in Virginia, about half had been trained in the acute management of sexual assault victims, but only a quarter had any training in identifying the long-term sequelae.

Given that ob.gyns. are in the unique position of seeing women on a regular basis, they have an opportunity to identify women who are still struggling with the aftermath, help them ...