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State Nurse Practice Acts, Diagnosing, & Forensic Nursing Provisons

I’m speaking today at the conference about challenges to forensic nursing testimony, and one of the things we’ll talk about is being (very) familiar with your state Nurse Practice Act. A little while back, I went through all of the Nurse Practice Acts and compiled the language related to both diagnosis and forensic nursing provisions, if any. If you click through you can access the full grid, which includes active links to the respective state boards. Please note: laws (and web links) continually change, so this grid is only a snapshot of what the states had to say on these issues at the time it was compiled. I cannot guarantee they remain the same in every state today so please do not rely on this in place of reading the actual language of your state Nurse Practice Act. 

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Child Abuse DV/IPV Sexual Assault

Since Last We Spoke 10-26-15 (Conference Edition)

This week is the IAFN annual conference, and once again, it’s an opportunity to network and collaborate with some of the best and the brightest in the field. It’s a week I love, and sometimes love to hate, because with the deeply satisfying moments come the inevitable, frustrating ones where I witness acts of great professional unkindness perpetrated left and right. Over the years a degree of both public and private shaming has begun to emerge at this conference, particularly in regards to education, that makes me feel sad for the profession. I have witnessed it first hand, as close friends have been made to feel their accomplishments mean nothing without advanced degrees; I’ve listened (astonished) in public forums as those who should be mentors explicitly tell audience members that they need to dumb their content down for the non-PhDs in the room; and of course, I’ve had more nurses than I can count worry to me about whether they will have a place in the organization 5-10 years down the road if they don’t go back to school.

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DV/IPV Sexual Assault

Intimate Partner Sexual Abuse: From Teen Dating Violence to Trafficking

The National Judicial Education Program has a webinar coming up–Intimate Partner Sexual Abuse: From Teen Dating Violence to Trafficking. The session will be held November 12th from 3-4:30pm ET. Click through for details about this multidisciplinary session:

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DV/IPV

Everyday Magic: 16 Ways Adults Can Support Children Exposed to Violence and Trauma

In our line of work, we often are either caring for traumatized children as our primary patients, or they are accompanying a parent there to see us. Futures Without Violence recently published Everyday Magic: 16 Ways Adults Can Support Children Exposed to Violence and Trauma (PDF). Let’s face it, there aren’t enough things coming across my desk with the word “magic” in them, so I confess, points to the authors for the title alone. It’s more than a pleasing title, though; it’s nicely referenced, straight-forward, and distributable to other colleagues who could use the assist, as well–might be a good one for discussion at your next ED inservice, or staff or MDT meeting.

(h/t: VAWnet)

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Child Abuse Sexual Assault

Since Last We Spoke 10-19-15

My best friend was in town this weekend, so it was a non-stop food fest, and a chance to play tourist in my own city. I was back online last night, though, after a day working on a rather chewy writing project for a 3-letter government agency. Here’s what caught my eye since last we spoke:

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Child Abuse Sexual Assault

Medical Care of Child Sex Abuse Victims and Child Forensic Interviewing Best Practices

The Midwest Regional CAC has a multidisciplinary webinar coming up: Medical Care of Child Sex Abuse Victims. The session will be held October 22nd at 1pm CT. This offering comes with 2 hours of CMEs (also POST credits and social work, but astonishingly, no nursing credits). Click through for details, as well as information on a new publication from OJJDP:

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Child Abuse Sexual Assault

Sexually Transmitted Infections in Suspected Child Sexual Abuse

A reader asked for options for educational offerings on sexually transmitted infections in suspected child sexual abuse cases. You’re in luck–I have a couple. One is an archived webinar from the Tribal Forensic Healthcare project, and it has CEU/CMEs available (expires 3/16/16). The National Children’s Advocacy Center also has an archived webinar; no continuing education credits appear to be available for this one, but it may be more suitable for a multidisciplinary audience if that’s your need. And as a companion, you’ll find the most current CDC treatment guidelines for children here.

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DV/IPV Sexual Assault

Since Last We Spoke 10-12-15

This weekend was all about the Army 10-Miler. Prepping for, running and then recovering from the race (which truthfully looked a whole lot like eating everything we could get our hands on for a 12-hour period). It was a great run (always inspiring), we shaved 10 minutes off our last race time, and while I feel every one of my 40+ years in these knees and achilles, I am still upright and willing to do it again next year, so that’s something. Bonus for having our dear friend in town to cheer us on, having just finished a prolonged bout of chemo. It made the weekend extra special. I stayed away from the interwebs by and large, which is why this list is shorter than normal; but here’s what did catch my eye since last we spoke:

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Child Abuse DV/IPV Elder Abuse/Neglect Sexual Assault

Updated Clinical Guide: Determining the Age of Bruising

I have updated the clinical guide, Determining the Age of Bruising. It’s one of our more popular one (I send a lot of lawyers there, in particular), so I’m glad to have had the opportunity to overhaul this one. There’s some new research, plus I am trying to slowly get all of them in a consistent format. You’ll find both a Word doc with active hyperlinks and the more printer friendly PDF. Enjoy.

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DV/IPV Sexual Assault

#BeyondtheBruises

I mentioned in Monday’s post that the Society for Women’s Health Research had a new campaign, #BeyondtheBruises. This is a campaign geared toward raising awareness about the healthcare impact of domestic violence, so it’s a great resource for sharing with other members of your provider community. Of note: there’s a 5ish minute video included as a part of this site (click through to view) that would make a great intro to an inservice on this topic.

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DV/IPV Sexual Assault

Since Last We Spoke, 10-5-15

How many more of these posts can I do that start out with a host of links to the latest round-up of articles on mass shootings? You know what–don’t answer that. I don’t want to know. Because I know this isn’t my last one. Once again, I reiterate, we are gun-owning, military household. Not trying to trample anyone’s 2nd amendment rights. But heaven help me, I have a kid I am trying to grow into an adult and I need her to be safe in public spaces, so tell me how it’s possible we won’t even let the CDC study gun violence, let alone regulate the purchase of these things. Anyway, click through–I promise, I’ve been reading about more than just Oregon since last we spoke:

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DV/IPV Sexual Assault

Friday Extra: House Calls To The Homeless

This site chronicles the vast majority of my professional life in one way or another. It’s easy to track my wanderings here, and most of how I spend my time is a pretty open book. However, a couple evenings a month, removed from much of this world, I grab my stethoscope and go see patients at a local family shelter. It’s one of the things I most look forward to in my week, and it gives me the opportunity to take care of patients, which is magical.

Categories
Elder Abuse/Neglect

Elder Abuse Webinar at Tribal Forensic Healthcare

The next adult-focused webinar in the series over at the Tribal Forensic Healthcare project is on elder abuse. It’ll be held October 7th from 3-4:30pm. As with all of their sessions, CEs are available, and it will be archived, so no worries if you can’t participate live. Click through for details: