Abstract
The sexual assault nurse examiner (SANE) not only evaluates and treats injuries following sexual assault but also notes injuries on preprinted traumagrams and in forensic photographs. Forensic photographic images are used by interprofessional teams to evaluate and improve the quality of SANE practice. However, there is no tool to rate the quality or utility of a forensic photographic image. The Photo Documentation Image Quality Scoring System (PDIQSS; Ernst) was developed to evaluate the quality of photographic evidence using images of female genital injuries following sexual assault. The purpose of the study was to (1) develop a scoring system to rate actual images from sexual assault case with female genital injuries and (2) establish face and content validity as well as preliminary reliability of the PDIQSS, a quality scoring system for photographic images. When reviewing forensic photography for quality improvement and peer review, the PDIQSS tool is valuable in standardizing the scoring of image quality in photographs between and among providers.