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And the Winner Is…

Drumroll please…

Our winner is #33

Aimee Falkenberg you are our winner! I am super pleased to offer you one registration to this year’s IAFN conference in New Orleans. And your resolution: My professional goal for 2019 is to push for and assist in the creation of a strangulation protocol that can be used within our emergency departments. I also aspire to find a wee bit of wellness time for me-maybe explore some restorative yoga…I say this every year but 2019 is the year 

Perhaps some of that time for yourself will be spent in the Big Easy this Fall? Email me so we can chat details. Congratulations, Aimee! And for all FHO readers, don’t forget there’s still a few days left to take advantage of the 10% code (FHOIS10) for the research digests in the store. It will be good through January 31st.

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Since Last We Spoke, 1-28-18

First, thanks to everyone who participated in the giveaway. I randomized the responses and had the generator choose a winner for me. Come back tomorrow for the big announcement.

I’m at Ft. Bragg this week and then [carefully looks around to make sure no one is listening] I am home for 3 entire, glorious weeks. I am beyond thrilled and am very much looking forward to seeing many of you for the IAFN Advocacy Day.

I worked most of the weekend after sneaking back to the CLE to see the girlchild, so I haven’t had much time to read. But there were a few things that caught my eye since last we spoke:

Her school banned her from writing about a classmate’s sexual assault arrest

Turns out, if you love research, academia might not be the place for you

Yoga mats in the squad room

Speaking black dialect in courtrooms can have dire consequences: “Beyond negative stereotypes or lack of familiarity, a court reporter’s own discomfort with some of the terminology used in black dialect could also lead to incorrect transcriptions…”

How to manage your fear of public speaking–some good tips in here, some of which I employ myself

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Have you checked out the FHO store lately? You can find our newest research brief, Aging Bruises Based On Color, plus our original guide, Injury Following Consensual Sex. Both available now for electronic download.

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Child Abuse

Child Physical Abuse: A Guide to the CAC Response

(Have you entered our giveaway yet for IAFN conference registration?)

Midwest Regional Children’s Advocacy Center is offering a webinar next month, Child Physical Abuse: A Guide to the CAC Response. The session will be held February 7th at 1pm CT. Like all of their webinars, this one will be archived. From the website:

Brief Overview: A child abuse pediatrician will review the considerations for the MDT, medical, mental health, forensic interview and victim advocate response that a CAC-MDT should consider when evaluating expansion of service to include child physical abuse. The presentation will discuss the role of the medical provider on the MDT, and will present an overview on the specifics of the medical response to suspected physical abuse including recognition of red flag indicators of physical abuse (such as patterned and sentinel injuries) and evaluation of potentially abusive injuries.

Expert Presenter: Karen Farst, MD, MPH, has worked as a child abuse pediatrician with the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Center for Children at Risk and Arkansas Children’s Hospital since 2004. After an internal medicine/pediatrics residency, she was in primary care private practice for 3 years before completing a fellowship in child abuse pediatrics at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. Her work duties at Arkansas Children’s Hospital include medical evaluations and court testimony for cases of abuse and neglect, education of medical and non-medical professionals on the medical aspects of child maltreatment, and administrative leadership of the Center for Children at Risk located in the Clark Center for Safe and Healthy Children on the campus of Arkansas Children’s Hospital.

Register for the session here.

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Have you checked out the FHO store lately? You can find our newest research brief, Aging Bruises Based On Color, plus our original guide, Injury Following Consensual Sex. Both available now for electronic download.

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How to Get Started in Quality Improvement

(Have you entered our giveaway yet for IAFN conference registration?)

BMJ has a new full-text article available, How to get started in quality improvement. If you’ve spent any time on this site you know I’m a big fan of any type of programming that affirmatively identifies issues and ideally, makes system-level changes to reduce or eliminate those issues (as opposed to catching the same problems over and over and correcting them once they’ve already been made on a case by case, clinician by clinician basis). It’s the difference between quality assurance (QA) programs and quality improvement (QI) ones. Jen Pierce-Weeks and I tackled that issue in the Sustainability app, here. Since launching the Sustainability app, OVC published the SANE Program Development and Operation Guide, and they addressed the issue of quality improvement, as well.

This BMJ piece is a good follow-on. It’s obviously not tailored to forensic clinical programs, but there’s no reason the information wouldn’t apply to a variety of programs, regardless of location or structure. And this provides much more instruction for taking the plunge into QI. Program managers, in particular, should consider spending some time with this article, especially as you consider the major challenges you may have in providing the best possible care to patients in your community.

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Have you checked out the FHO store lately? You can find our newest research brief, Aging Bruises Based On Color, plus our original guide, Injury Following Consensual Sex. Both available now for electronic download.

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Since Last We Spoke, 1-21-19

(Have you entered our giveaway yet for IAFN conference registration?)

The windchill in the DC area is -3, but it’s better than the ground temp of -14 in E Lansing where I’m headed later today. I finally made it home after 15 days on the road, so it was a glorious weekend here. We did nothing but cook, watch old episodes of British Bakeoff and keep the fireplace going around the clock–heaven. However, that’s done, and now I will be gone the remainder of the month. Particularly with the shutdown appearing to have no end in sight, I am not complaining. If ever there was a time to be (extra) grateful for work it is when your spouse is not getting paid to go to the job that she shows up at daily.

Here’s what’s caught my eye since last we spoke:

I didn’t go to the women’s march this year since I had just gotten back to town, but this was an excellent take on why we shouldn’t give up on it

A powerful look at mental illness: Yale will not save you

If you didn’t see this UCLA gymnast’s floor routine a few weeks back, it’s a must watch. You can check it out and her inspiring plans post-graduation here.

Kill or be killed shouldn’t be the only option for battered women

Also: how the shutdown is impacting domestic violence shelters

No surprise sex ed fails teens regularly, but particularly around the issue of sexting

An aspirational online list for 2019

The gay penguins of Australia–this is delightful

Finally: I’ve been lucky enough to see Kamala Harris in action during Judiciary Committee hearings, so I am very interested to watch her campaign unfold. As with all the candidates, there are some things about her that concern me, but she is one of a few Dems that has a clear track record on issues important to me as both a woman and as a forensic clinician.

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Have you checked out the FHO store lately? You can find our newest research brief, Aging Bruises Based On Color, plus our original guide, Injury Following Consensual Sex. Both available now for electronic download.

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Child Abuse

Shining Light on the Response to Child Sexual Abuse & Exploitation

(Have you entered our giveaway yet for IAFN conference registration?)

Out of the shadows: Shining light on the response to child sexual abuse and exploitation is a 40-country benchmarking index examining how countries are responding to the threat of sexual violence against children. “It explores the environment in which the issue occurs and is addressed; the degree to which a country’s legal framework provides protections for children from sexual violence; whether government commitment and capacity is being deployed to equip institutions and personnel to respond appropriately; and the engagement of industry, civil society and media in efforts to tackle the problem.” You can check out the website that contains a host of resources, including the complete white paper, a recorded webinar, and what will be of interest to most of you, a significant number of links to other resources on these issues. Even if you are not interested in the macro-level policy issues set forth here, there’s quite a bit that can ultimately inform practice issues at the local level.

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Have you checked out the FHO store lately? You can find our newest research brief, Aging Bruises Based On Color, plus our original guide, Injury Following Consensual Sex. Both available now for electronic download.

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Articles of Note Child Abuse DV/IPV Elder Abuse/Neglect Sexual Assault Testimony

Articles of Notes: January 2019 Edition

(Have you entered our giveaway yet for IAFN conference registration?)

It’s time once again for Articles of Note, our monthly romp through the newly published peer-reviewed literature. I hope you’ve made room on your nightstands and your e-readers, my friends, because there’s plenty to keep your brain occupied for a good long while. Links take you to PubMed abstracts except where indicated. Be a dear and cite back to FHO if you use our compilation 🙂

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Have you checked out the FHO store lately? You can find our newest research brief, Aging Bruises Based On Color, plus our original guide, Injury Following Consensual Sex. Both available now for electronic download.

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DV/IPV Sexual Assault

What Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Organizations Can Do to Address Human Trafficking

(Have you entered our giveaway yet for IAFN conference registration?)

Futures Without Violence has a webinar coming up at the end of the month, What Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Organizations Can Do to Address Human Trafficking. The session will be held on January 31st at 2pm ET. From the website:

Webinar Description:

Many victims/survivors of human trafficking have also been sexually assaulted or battered by an intimate partner. Domestic violence and sexual assault service providers provide assistance to survivors of human trafficking as well, sometimes unknowingly and without adequate training to address the unique needs of human trafficking survivors. Presenters will highlight ten things that domestic violence and sexual assault service organizations can do to better support survivors of human trafficking, and will share tools and resources to assist OVW grantees in enhancing their assistance to human trafficking survivors.

After the webinar, participants will be better able to:

-Describe the intersections of human trafficking with domestic violence and sexual assault, and the unique needs of survivors of human trafficking.

-Identify strategies to address human trafficking within domestic and sexual assault organizations, and in collaboration with others in your community.

-Utilize tools and resources available to support service providers in enhancing services through the OVW-sponsored  Building Collaborative Responses to Human Trafficking Project.

Register for the session here. (Futures archives their webinars so if you can’t attend live check their site for all past webinar offerings.)

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Have you checked out the FHO store lately? You can find our newest research brief, Aging Bruises Based On Color, plus our original guide, Injury Following Consensual Sex. Both available now for electronic download.

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Since Last We Spoke, 1-14-19

(Have you entered our giveaway yet for IAFN conference registration?)

Well, I have to tell you, 2019 has started out with a bang. Last week was Hawaii, this week is Tacoma, and I still have E. Lansing, Cleveland and Ft. Bragg before January is over. Never have I been so happy to see holes open up in my calendar–February is going to be bliss since it looks like I have only one trip scheduled now for the entire month. Whew–I need to get reacquainted with the other human in my household before March hits and we get right back at it.

Like last week, my time won’t be my own this week. I’ll try and keep posts as regular as possible, but it may be tricky. I did have some downtime over the weekend to catch up on some reading, though. Here’s what caught my eye since last we spoke:

A little news about me 🙂

The end of likability politics

“Their strength comes from collaborative, generational efforts to move toward the good.”

This incredible interactive site mapping violence against black women

Related

Currently one of my favorite Insta accounts

Traditional masculinity is officially labeled harmful by the APA

A Dreamer and a Rhodes scholar

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Have you checked out the FHO store lately? You can find our newest research brief, Aging Bruises Based On Color, plus our original guide, Injury Following Consensual Sex. Both available now for electronic download.

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DV/IPV Sexual Assault

Gender-Related Killing of Women and Girls

(Have you entered our giveaway yet for IAFN conference registration?)

Late last year the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime published the Global Study on Violence: Gender-Related Killing of Women and Girls (PDF). It’s taken me a bit to work my way through it, so I am only now getting around to posting it here. If you haven’t checked it out yet, it’s definitely worth your time for the 10,000 foot view of gender-based violence, particularly as it relates to intimate partner violence and homicides.

(Image p. 8)

I particularly love these reports for the wealth of citations–I got sidetracked in a significant way going down those rabbit holes. The report takes a relatively nuanced view of violence, examining both lethal and non-lethal forms of GBV, even though it specifically centers on homicides, so plenty to be gleaned for forensic practitioners who work solely with living patients.

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Have you checked out the FHO store lately? You can find our newest research brief, Aging Bruises Based On Color, plus our original guide, Injury Following Consensual Sex. Both available now for electronic download.

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Testimony

Resolution: Read More

(Have you entered our giveaway yet for IAFN conference registration?)

Yesterday a reader reminded me that for all of my discussion about reading research on FHO, I never really talk about the best way to make it *easier* to identify relevant research. “There’s so much” and “it’s so overwhelming” are frequent complaints I hear when I discuss the issue at testimony workshops. So what are the top 3 tools I suggest for staying on top of the mountain of research that’s published every month?

**Here (FHO) is a pretty good place to begin. Between the Articles of Note, the reviews in the store, and the other publications I highlight in posts throughout the year, one of the reasons I keep FHO going is to bring the science to the profession on the regular. Subscribing makes it even easier.

**Automate your searches through email alerts. To keep my inbox from becoming completely overloaded, I subscribe to alerts from two places: Google Scholar and PubMed. I have a significant number of research terms for which I have alerts set up, so I still get a ridiculous amount of email traffic, but you can decide for yourself what’s most important/relevant/urgent and make alterations as you see fit. Depending on your access, there are a variety of other databases (e.g. ProQuest, EBSCO) for which you can set up alerts. Ask your university or hospital librarians if you’re not sure what’s available.

**Subscribe to journal email alerts. Your favorite journals allow you to subscribe to things like alerts for newly published articles online, or full tables of contents. Go to individual journals or check out JournalTOCs to make the process more efficient.

As I’ve said on many occasions, reading is part of the job. But locating the research doesn’t need to be difficult or overwhelming. Hope this helps steer folks in a manageable direction.

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Have you checked out the FHO store lately? You can find our newest research brief, Aging Bruises Based On Color, plus our original guide, Injury Following Consensual Sex. Both available now for electronic download.

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FHO Is 10! (So We’ve Got a Giveaway to Celebrate!)

Happy birthday to us!

I started FHO 10 years ago as a way to make sure there was a way to bring accessible and affordable continuing education to my fellow forensic colleagues. A lot has changed in the profession and in my own life since those early days, but we’re still here, doing the work that we do. To celebrate a decade on the interwebs, it seems fitting to give a little something away to one lucky FHO reader, so how do you feel about New Orleans in the fall with hundreds of your closest friends? Because I am definitely feeling that.

WE’RE GIVING AWAY A CONFERENCE REGISTRATION!

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED. THANKS FOR ENTERING!

ALSO: To celebrate 10 years of FHO, please use the coupon code FHOIS10 in the store (good through the end of the month) for 10% off the reviews.

Seriously, though–thanks for being the most excellent readership a woman could ask for. You fill my nerdy heart with joy and wonder on the regular. Here’s to the next 10.

[PLEASE NOTE: this is not a sponsored post. I am giving away an IAFN conference registration because the mission of this site has always focused on clinician education and the annual conference is the epitome of that ideal.]

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Have you checked out the FHO store lately? You can find our newest research brief, Aging Bruises Based On Color, plus our original guide, Injury Following Consensual Sex. Both available now for electronic download.

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Happy New Year! A Look Back at 2018

We all were pretty busy in 2018, and even here at our little site, it turns out a bunch of you stopped by. So if you’re curious, scroll through to see who showed up and what you all were reading on FHO. And by all means, come back on Monday, because FHO turns 10(!), and to celebrate, we are doing the biggest giveaway ever. I promise, it’s worth your while (and open to all FHO readers, anywhere around the globe).

2018 FORENSIC HEALTHCARE ONLINE by Jen Markowitz

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Have you checked out the FHO store lately? You can find our newest research brief, Aging Bruises Based On Color, plus our original guide, Injury Following Consensual Sex. Both available now for electronic download.