Podcast: Sexual Assault: What the Emergency Physician Can Do

Sexual assault and violence is a sensitive subject matter to broach and rightfully so says Carolyn Sachs, M.D., emergency medicine physician at UCLA Medical Center.

However, she contends, that the alarming statistics coupled with the potential impact emergency physicians can have on victims makes the topic all-the-more vital.

Sachs spoke to MEDHOST about best practices for identifying and treating sexual assault during the 2018 annual conference of the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP).

At the gathering, Dr. Sachs, who also serves as Voluntary Medical Director for Forensic Nurse Specialists in Orange and Los Angeles counties in California, addressed intimate partner violence and sexual assault, particularly what physicians can do to better identify and treat cases of assault in the emergency department.

“One in three women and and one in six men will be victims of sexual assault in their lifetime,” Sachs explains. “One in five women will be raped in their lifetime. I want emergency department physicians to know how much they matter to each individual patient and to understand how they take care of these patients matters in their recovery.”

To hear Dr. Sachs’ ideas on how EHRs could be used to improve sexual assault reporting in emergency departments, click on the link below to listen to her full interview.

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