Medico-legal history taking from the victims of sexual assaults: the role of nurse examiners

Abstract

Abstract Background Sexual assault examiners provides comprehensive health care to victims of sexual assault. Communication with the victim is important to collect relevant information from the victims. Ineffective communications can cause re-victimization and hamper the medico-legal evidence collection. Main text This article aims to orient the novice examiner and nurses to the prerequisites of medico-legal history collection, techniques of building trust, establishing rapport, ensuring privacy and confidentiality, taking consent, communicating effectively with the victims of sexual assault, and components of medico-legal history collection. Conclusions Novice examiners and nurses need to be trained in collecting medico-legal history and evidence. The examiners who conduct the examination should be dedicated to delivering compassionate and high-quality care to individuals who have disclosed sexual assault.

Keywords

• Crime victims
• Forensic nursing
• Intimate partner legislation and jurisprudence
• Medical history taking
• Sex offenses
• Violence