The Texas A&M Center for Nursing Excellence has launched a telehealth clinic designed to give follow-up care to adult victims of sexual trauma and violence.
Center director Dr. Stacey Mitchell says the ACTS clinic (Assessment and Care for Trauma Survivors clinic) will connect patients to nurse practitioners virtually.
“To have telehealth as an option, to be able to talk to a provider on your phone, on your tablet, on a computer, anywhere you are gives so much flexibility to our patients,” Mitchell said.
Mitchell says the virtual clinic is open to victims across the state, and the center is planning on partnering with hospitals statewide to ensure victims are provided with adequate care.
“We want to make sure this information gets to our rural hospitals so that patients do not have to feel like they have to drive someplace for a doctor’s appointment,” Mitchell said. “They can have it right there in their own home or wherever they are the most comfortable.”
Appointments can be requested online at the Texas A&M forensic nursing website.
Click below for comments from Dr. Stacey Mitchell, visiting with WTAW’s Ian Curtis:
News release from the Texas A&M school of nursing:
A clinic developed by the Texas A&M Health Center of Excellence in Forensic Nursing will help survivors of trauma and violence receive important follow-up care virtually. The Texas A&M Assessment and Care for Trauma Survivors (ACTS) Clinic connects patients with advanced practice registered nurses using telemedicine technology.
Operating in the Texas A&M University School of Nursing, the center is a federally and state-funded initiative that was created in 2019 to advance forensic nursing education, outreach and research.
The ACTS Clinic, which is accepting patients immediately, serves Texas residents 18 and older who have experienced sexual assault. Using any connected device, patients communicate with providers in real time without having to visit a physical location. Nurse practitioners with expertise in forensic health care help patients with additional assessments, treatment plans, laboratory and radiology testing, and specialty referrals.
“We know that survivors of trauma and violence often don’t seek the follow-up care that is essential to their health and recovery,” said Stacey Mitchell, director of the center and a clinical professor. “Their reasons are varied and valid, but our hope is that virtual appointments with specialized providers can help remove some of the barriers that come with coordinating this type of care. It’s vital we meet our patients where they are.”
The ACTS Clinic is staffed by Denise Carlton. The Texas A&M School of Medicine’s Dr. Anna Lichorad serves as medical director.
The center is a leader in leveraging telemedicine to improve forensic health care. Its innovative Tex-TRAC program virtually connects rural hospitals and medical centers in Texas with sexual assault nurse examiners (SANEs) to provide expert forensic exams.
Patients can check provider availability and request an appointment with the ACTS Clinic at forensic-nursing.tamu.edu/actsclinic.