New Forensic Case Software Enhances Efficiency
By John Roark
Forensic nurses have gone to the front lines to help
create software programs enabling them to work more efficiently, documenting
case information from the time that the victim is examined all the way through
court deposition.
In 2002, Steve Wignall, owner of Infosys Business Solutions, was approached
by a forensic nurse with a vision. Together they developed TACT (Thorough Assault Case Tracking), which records
and manages the details of sexual assault and domestic abuse cases and allows
the user to compare cases by any selected criteria. Demographics, scene tactics,
medical procedures, medications, images and diagrams of body and genital
injuries and other case-pertinent data are stored in a system which also
produces discharge instructions with information tailored to the victim’s
individual needs.
“It brings together the different organizations of what we call coordinated
community response,” says Wignall. “Pulling together medical, law enforcement, advocacy and courts to work
together on the problem of abuse.”
Bringing the forensic nurse into the digital age doesn’t require an
advanced level of computer know-how. User-friendly programs are designed for all
computer skill levels, easily transforming the process from daunting to doable. “The software is very easy to use,” says Wignall. “Menudriven,
drop-down boxes, easy navigation. If you have better information, you’re going
to be more efficient about the way you do your job.”
Rose Heart Inc.’s S.A.R.T. Smart software was designed by nurses for
nurses. “The nurses themselves put everything into the program,” says Linda
Ebbert, RN, SANE, director and owner of Rose Heart Inc. Ebbert’s Las Vegas
center has performed more than 4,000 examinations. S.A.R.T. Smart was created to
ensure that every detail of a sexual assault case is precisely documented and
electronically stored. Patient history, details of the assault — including digital images — are
incorporated into the case document.
“Every piece that we gather in the sexual assault kit is documented,”
says Ebbert. The software prompts the user to enter each necessary item. “If
you answer ‘no’ that you did not gather something, you can’t go on to the
next page or continue with the examination until you give an explanation as to
why you did not gather that evidence,” she says.
Documenting information electronically eliminates the issue of legibility and
expedites the process, thereby decreasing the amount of time the victim must
remain in the examination room. And because software can be installed on a
laptop, if the victim cannot come to the nurse, the nurse can go to the victim.
The laptop format also affords greater eye contact between nurse and victim,
says Ebbert.
Password-protected case management software safeguards information by
encrypting data upon completion of each segment of a case. “At any time during
the case you can go back and change any information you want, but once you close
that case, you cannot change anything,” says Ebbert. “If there are
additional things that you find you want to add, there is an addendum page
option. Again, once that addendum page is closed, you cannot go back and change
it.”
“There are concerns about images and digital enhancement,” says Wignall. “We don’t mess with the pictures and the video, we just
allow the different facets of law enforcement to look at them with a link that
takes them to wherever the images reside. It’s a separate tool used to view
that information; they cannot alter it.”
Another advantage of digital information storage is the economy of space. “Your
time is valuable, even in a small site,” says Wignall. “A value comes from
having a compact means to store your data. If someone asks for all of your cases
over the past six months, you’d be there for a month gathering that
information, assuming you’ve written everything out by hand and have a large
caseload. Having information available on computer is going to have efficiencies
as far as recalling that information.”
Ebbert agrees. “The record is burned onto a CD, and you can gather as many
as 100 exams on one CD, depending on the numbers of photos that you include.”
By this means, cases can be stored singly or combined by week or month,
depending on your needs. Ebbert points out that the Las Vegas Metropolitan
Police Department requests cases grouped by two-week increments. But the
Henderson, Nev. Police Department requests each case separately. “If we put multiple cases
on one CD, they can go in and pick the one that they want, and print that exam,”
she says.
Both Ebbert and Wignall point out that software is fully customizable for the
client, easily incorporating state-mandated forms and criteria. “We customize
each installation to that site,” says Wignall. “If the intake forms are
somewhat different from state to state or even site to site, we’ll take that information and line it up with the way they’re doing it, so that they’re not pigeonholed into doing business a certain way. They’re allowed to do business the way they wish.”
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