Categories
DV/IPV Sexual Assault

Violence Against Women and HIV

Don’t forget: FHO’s latest giveaway is going on now through August 3rd! Get all the details here to enter.

AIDS Alliance is hosting a webinar Wednesday, August 3rd from 1-2:30 pm ET: Violence Against Women and HIV.  The webinar appears to be free of charge, but registration is required.

Categories
DV/IPV Elder Abuse/Neglect Sexual Assault

Expert Chats @NIJ

Don’t forget: FHO’s latest giveaway is going on now through August 3rd! Get all the details here to enter.

Have you seen the Expert Chat series at NIJ? I stumbled upon the archive, and there’s some really great stuff just waiting for you to find it, too. Not everything is clinically relevant, but the stuff that is is worth perusing.

Categories
Uncategorized

Am I the Only One Who Thinks Like This?

I love the earnest responses we’ve seen to the temporary tattoo giveaway question, but come on–doesn’t at least one of you want to slap a speculum tattoo on your arm and waltz into your spouse’s dreary company cocktail party just to loosen folks up a bit?

Don’t forget: the giveaway is going on now through August 3rd! Get all the details here to enter.

Categories
Sexual Assault

Routine Sexual Assault Screening

Don’t forget: FHO’s latest giveaway is going on now through August 3rd! Get all the details here to enter.

Kudos to ACOG for their recommendation to screen patients routinely for sexual assault. You can see the press release here; or read the full recommendation in their journal: Committee on Health Care for Underserved Women, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists: Committee Opinion No. 499 “Sexual assault” Obstet Gyn 2011; 118(2): 396-399.

Categories
Sexual Assault

Web-Based SAFE Training: UPDATE

Don’t forget: FHO’s latest giveaway is going on now through August 3rd! Get all the details here to enter.

For those of you with an interest in participating in IAFN’s free web-based SAFE training and clinical workshop, please note, the application deadline has been extended to September 1st due to a spectacular response. If you missed the original posting, check out all the course details here.

Categories
Uncategorized

Now available: Forensic tattoos!

Now available in the newly opened FHO Store, a series of temporary tattoos for the forensic clinician. See the full series after the jump and find out about our latest giveaway.

Categories
Uncategorized

Tattoos!

Come back Monday to find out how you can get your own forensic-leaning temporary tattoos, see the full set (yes, there are more!), and learn how one lucky FHO reader will win the whole set for him/herself.

Have a great weekend!

Categories
DV/IPV Sexual Assault

Clinical Preventive Services for Women

Some of you may have been following the release of the Institute of Medicine’s report on clinical preventive services for women. This is a big, big deal for a number of reasons, not the least of which is their recommendation that women have access to birth control without a co-pay. But did you know their were some violence-related issues addressed in thew new report, as well?

Categories
Sexual Assault

Direct Assistance for Victims of Trafficking

The other day I posted on the Newsweek article about prostitution and human trafficking, and judging by the unbelievable number of hits, FHO readers have some significant interest in the topic. So I wanted to follow up with a resource on providing healthcare for victims of trafficking.

Categories
DV/IPV

Intimate Partner Homicide Prevention

VAWNet has just published a brand new special collection on intimate partner homicide prevention that looks fantastic. It has a lot of the resources we frequently use when teaching on the topic of assessing dangerousness, in particular, that I really appreciate. See the full table of contents (with links) after the jump.

Categories
Uncategorized

The John Next Door

Crazy busy here at FHO headquarters this morning (and by headquarters, I of course mean my kitchen), so I will leave you with an interesting read, especially for all of you doing anti-trafficking work. Check out Newsweek’s article, The John Next Door, about the growing demand for prostitution. Some very intriguing research featured in the piece.

(Hat tip: WCSAP)

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Uncategorized

Sobriety and Medical Consent

Can we all agree on one thing? The BAC threshold of .08 is not a measure of sobriety in general terms. It is a measure of a person’s sobriety as it pertains to safely operating a motor vehicle. I would like to ask my colleagues who are turning patients away because they are blowing > .08 to please reconsider this practice. Denying patients care because their BAC is over the legal limit to operate a motor vehicle makes no sense.

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Uncategorized

Using Social Media Wisely

One of FHO’s readers sent me an article this morning on an appellate decision related to the use of Facebook. The decision centered around whether a student at the University of Minnesota could be disciplined because of Facebook posts created off campus and outside of academic hours. And so far, the answer continues to be yes. I post this because when I speak on the issue of defensible practice, a topic about which I am passionate, one of the key areas I touch on is the use of social media. As I’ve written previously, I am a huge fan of things like Facebook, and obviously there’s this blog, and it’s connected to my Twitter feed, so, yeah, I’m all over the interwebs.

Categories
Testimony

10 Things: The FHO Expert Witness Bill of Rights

I am consulting on a couple cases right now, so testimony is on my mind. Today I am going to post my Expert Witness’ Bill of Rights. By all means, please do add to this if you come up with any I have missed. Also remember, this is opinion and opinion only. Just because I think it’s true doesn’t mean you will agree, or that the attorneys you work with will care what I think (in fact I’d say it’s a solid bet that they won’t). So, with all those caveats, here are what I consider to be essential considerations for taking on the role of expert witness:

Categories
Child Abuse Sexual Assault

Preventing Child Sex Abuse By Health Providers

The American Academy of Pediatrics has released a new policy statement—Protecting Children From Sexual Abuse by Health Care Providers (PDF). Medscape has an overview of the statement, with a CME activity attached (sorry, physicians only). It’s an interesting read, and one that addresses an issue I’ve not seen other organizations address (hello, AMA?).

Categories
Uncategorized

Workplace Violence 101

Workplace Violence 101 is being offered by the ePanic Button. It’s a good starting place for those of you trying to engage your agencies in looking at policies related to violence in the workplace. The session will be held July 22nd from 2:30-3:30 pm ET and is free of charge.

Categories
Sexual Assault

Adolescent/Adult Web Based SAFE Training and Clinical Workshop

Can I tell you how long I have been waiting to get to post this? It is with great excitement that I can announce IAFN’s free adolescent/adult web-based SAFE training and clinical workshop (clinical workshop, people! How amazing is that?). Full details after the jump.

Categories
Sexual Assault

Emergency Contraception: Mechanism of Action

Providing emergency contraception (EC) is a standard part of the sexual assault medical-forensic exam. However, I find that a lot of clinicians have a difficult time explaining how EC works so that patients can make a well-informed choice about whether they want it. So I was pleased to get an email yesterday announcing the availability of a new fact sheet on EC (PDF), outlining what the science tells us about mechanism of action. It should be a great resource to provide team members and our collaborating colleagues in the emergency departments who are often responsible for having similar conversations with patients.

Categories
DV/IPV Sexual Assault

Say No to Violence

Have you seen this site? It’s a really interesting idea from the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. It’s been live for awhile now, but I have only just come across it (again, thanks Twitter). What’s fascinating about it is that it is more social media than similar sites. And it’s in French, English and Spanish.

Categories
Sexual Assault

#DSK

With all the press surrounding the Dominique Strauss-Kahn case, it’s hard not to comment. But quite frankly, there’s plenty that’s already been said (and in some cases, said really well), so I’ll leave it at this: in my 16 years of taking care of sexual assault patients, I have yet to meet the victim that could withstand the kind of scrutiny that has been leveled at the victim in this case. The kind of victim who has no embarrassing, or god forbid, illegal, actions in her past (distant or otherwise); who comes forward immediately and is consistent down to the word in her repeated retellings of the events; who only associates with people of unimpeachable character; who is able to catalog everything she drinks prior to the assault, and everyone she talks to before and after; and who has never been assaulted in the past. All that makes us human makes us lousy sexual assault witnesses, each and every one of us.