Improving Access to Community-Based Services for Sexual Assault Survivors.

Background: Emergency department (ED) encounters are often the only healthcare provider encounter for patients seeking care after a reported sexual assault (SA), making the encounter a crucial opportunity to connect patients to support services in the community. An opportunity existed at an urban Level II trauma center to standardize SA discharge planning.

Aims: This quality improvement project aimed to improve access to SA support services.

Methods: The Model for Improvement guided two plan-do-study-act (PDSA) cycles. Implementation included (a) creation of a QR-code-accessible SA resource website, (b) ED standardized patient print and electronic medical record after-visit summaries with follow-up guidelines and the QR code, (c) ED staff education, and (d) a community stakeholder survey to assess facilitators and barriers to support services.

Results: During the first PDSA cycle, 19 reported SA survivors were seen in the ED (18 adult, one pediatric) and 14 SA resource website visits. During the second PDSA cycle, 13 reported SA survivors (10 adult, three pediatric) were seen in the ED and 29 website visits. Stakeholder survey data revealed barriers to support services were transportation, overloaded support services, and survivor knowledge of existing services.

Conclusion: The QR code intervention model is a discrete method of improving access to resources and is applicable to other vulnerable populations. The multiagency SA response team will utilize partner survey data to improve access to community resources such as housing and transportation.