Shanah Tovah to all who are celebrating today; I came home a little early from Denver to be with my wife for the Jewish New Year (and cook for a full table). I have a light schedule today and will be attending services, so I’ll keep today’s post brief. Come back for tomorrow for some comments on the IAFN conference. For now, here’s what caught my eye while waiting for my flight since last we spoke:
Good morning from DEN! A quick update for today: EVAWI has a new DNA series now available that might be of interest. Click through for details and links to the four bulletins:
Last week, several articles were published about new cases of drug-resistant gonorrhea cropping up in Hawaii. It’s a good reminder of the importance of being connected to your local health department and staying on top of surveillance data. As with last week’s conversation about emergency contraception, here is another issue to monitor and discuss with your team/medical director.
I am on my way to DET, and then I will be heading to DEN where I am looking forward to seeing so many of you. I hope to run into many of you at my testimony sessions (one with Leslie Hagan, one solo), which I have been told are both full (so come early to get a seat). And before people ask, no, Sasha will not be with me this year (for the 1st time in 7 years)–her current gig makes it difficult for her to travel to non-DOJ events, so there you go. Sad panda face. No surprise if I don’t post steadily this week, right? I will try and tweet where I can–follow the conference at #4N6RN. In any event, in between working on stuff for the new site and my talks for these next 2 conferences (so. much. new. content.), here’s a peak at what I’ve been reading since last we spoke:
Just a quick note before I quit for the weekend: I’ll be at the Detroit Sexual Assault Kit Summit on Monday (speaking with Rebecca Campbell on what’s new in medical-forensic exams for one session, doing a solo defensible practice session for the other). I will be jetting right after my 2nd session so that I can spend one day in the office before I head to Denver on Wednesday, but I hope to have the chance to catch up with many of you while I’m there. Please do come find me and say hello if you get the opportunity–I always love seeing FHO readers.
Yesterday, Medscape posted an article about new warnings issued in the UK regarding emergency contraception. The bumper sticker version is that some medications and herbal supplements may impair the efficacy of both levonorgestrel and ulipristal. While the US has not issued any warnings to date, the concern is a valid one, and worth consideration. My recommendation? Read and take back to your teams and your medical directors for further discussion. (Press coverage in the UK here, here and here.)
OVC has an upcoming web forum, Serving Victims of Mass Violence. It’s taking place September 27th at 2pm ET, although it will be archived for later viewing. Click through for details:
A reader asked me about forensic photography education geared towards pediatric practice. Good news–the Midwest Regional Children’s Advocacy Center has an online course, Digital Photodocumentation Techniques. It’s available on-demand, so you can take it at any time. Click through for details:
Home from PHX, next up, DET and then on to DEN (where I can’t wait to see so many FHO readers). Unexpectedly I have a whole week in the office, so I am trying to get finishing touches put on this. In the meantime, here’s a bit of what caught my eye since last we spoke:
For those of you interested in expanding your programs, here’s one avenue for funding services for older victims of abuse. The National Clearinghouse on Abuse in Later Life and the National Association of VOCA Assistance Administrators are hosting a webinar to review federal funding opportunities for services to this population (PDF). The session will be held October 5th at 3pm ET. Click through for details, including registration deadlines:
Want to know what I’ve been working on as of late?
Heading to Phoenix later in the week for this conference–hoping to see many of you there. In the meantime I’m slogging through as much as possible before I step foot in an airport since I am traveling to 3 cities (and sandwiching a local court martial in between) in these next 3 weeks. Obviously I am pretty geeked about Denver, but there’s much to be done, including 3 brand new talks. So suffice it to say, between traveling this weekend and the to do list, there wasn’t that much reading. But there were a few things that caught my eye since last we spoke–insomnia will do that…
The Training Institute on Strangulation Prevention has a webinar coming up: The Development and Operation of a Strangulation Response Team. The session will be held October 4th at 12pm CT. Click through for details:
Time once again for Articles of Note, our (almost) monthly guide to what’s new and interesting (to me) in the peer-reviewed literature. Click through to find both the printer-friendly PDF and the Word doc with active hyperlinks. As always, please provide attribution if you reproduce any portion of this or share with others–a lot of work goes into compiling these.
I’ll be on one of the panels next week at the 2016 National Sexual Assault Symposium in DC. They have just opened up registration for people who want to live stream the full event–it’ll take place 8 & 9 September from 8am-5pm ET each day. You can also follow along on Twitter using #NSAPS2016. Click through for info about the symposium:
So excited for this–the SANE Program Development and Operation Guide is now available. Funded by the Office of Victims of Crime, the update of this document was spearheaded by Susan Chasson, and is a fantastic resource for everyone working to start or sustain SANE programs. Can’t wait to work my way through it.
The Tribal Forensic Healthcare project is offering the pediatric sexual assault nurse examiner course online. Registration is free to providers from IHS, Tribal, and Urban Indian health care facilities. Providers from referral facilities that serve American Indian or Alaska Native victims of sexual abuse are also eligible to attend at no cost. If you’ve been hoping to expand your existing practice to peds, this is a great opportunity.
Greetings from Minot, ND, where it is a lovely and very civilized 73 degrees outside. I traveled and worked all weekend, so I haven’t had much time to read as of late, but a few things caught my eye as I loitered in airports en route. Here’s what I’ve been reading since last we spoke:
I love when I find offerings that I don’t frequently see. The Oregon Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence has a 2-part series coming up on DV and pregnancy, the first of which is Impact of Domestic Violence on Healthy Births. The session will be held September 13th at 10am PT. Click through for details:
We need to have a talk about evidence-based practice. This is a term that gets tossed around frequently, but understanding exactly what constitutes evidence-based practice (EBP) may leave folks feeling a bit hazy. This becomes a problem for both patient care (e.g. changing practice based on one article or lecture at a conference) AND testimony (e.g. discussing that term in court without having a handle on it’s actual meaning). It’s okay if you aren’t 100% clear on what EBP is as it pertains to nursing, but embrace this as an opportunity to start learning more.