AEquitas is offering up a 2-part webinar series on alcohol facilitated sexual assault. Patti Powers, a favorite of mine, will be one of the featured speakers; it should be a great pair of webinars. Part I will be held January 29th from 3-4pm ET. Part II will be held February 11th from 3-4pm ET. This is another good one to share with your SART or other multidisciplinary team. Click through for details:
The University of Texas School of Social Work is hosting a 6-part webinar that will provide guidance on the development and implementation of victim-centered notification practices in sexual assault cases with untested sexual assault kits. The 1st, Making the Case for Victim-Centered Notification with Untested Sexual Assault Kits, is being offered January 29th, from 1-2pm ET. This is a great session for SARTs and other multidisciplinary teams, so please share widely. Click through for details:
January is National Slavery and Human Trafficking Awareness Month. If you’re looking to increase capacity in this area, OVC TTAC has a slew of multidisciplinary webinars on this subject, available on their site. They range from 60-90 minutes, so it would be very easy to choose one for review as a team as an educational update, or pick one or two for people to listen to in advance and have a facilitated discussion at your next team meeting.
I know, I know–these are Monday posts, and it is distinctly not Monday. Apologies, but I spent my weekend motoring to the finish line to complete the draft of a paper for a project that has consumed my life as of late. I turned it in yesterday, so I am just starting to dig out today. As I wait to board a flight to Austin to spend some quality time with my favorite group of JAGs, here’s what’s caught my eye since last we spoke:
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New SAFEta Webinar Catalog
If you haven’t yet seen it, the SAFEta site has a newly revamped webinar catalog that has all of the archived webinars in an easily accessible location. There’s a pretty diverse range of topics, many of which are appropriate for more than just clinicians (so I encourage you to share with your multidisciplinary collaborators). Clean and easy to read, it should make identifying topical online educational opportunities a little simpler.
I usually post links to popular media on Mondays, but this one is so compelling (and intersects with a few different areas of my professional life) I thought it was worth its own mention. If you haven’t read the article To Catch a Rapist yet (it will be in print in this Sunday’s NY Times Magazine), I’d encourage you to do so. In a climate where law enforcement doesn’t always get great press, this is a nod to a dedicated group of professionals who are truly invested in the work we do. It’s a long read, but a good one.
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Happy 7th Anniversary, FHO!
Today FHO celebrates 7 years, which continues to amaze me. 2016 should be a big year for the site–we will FINALLY be doing the major overhaul to the look, feel, and flow of FHO (work begins on that this quarter). The plan is to move it from a blog format, as it has been all these years, to a more fully functioning website, regardless of whether it’s viewed on your phone, tablet or computer. There will still be regular posts, but there will also be more easily accessible content in the library, as well as a few other goodies in the works.
As always, thank you for continuing to make FHO a regular stop in your online travels, and for being a generally fantastic group of readers. Looking forward to what’s ahead for 2016!
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The Year That Was, 2015
I’m heading to the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in GA this morning for a couple days, but before I board my flight, I thought I would share some of the highlights from 2015. It was a pretty busy year on the site, but some posts definitely caught your attention more than others:
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Since Last We Spoke, 1-4-16
Happy new year, and welcome back! I trust everyone was able to get a bit of down time over the holidays. I managed to, as well, although not nearly as much as I needed. Like many of you, my holidays were filled with family and food, and some serious sloth (it rained for several days during the week of Christmas, so we were pretty housebound in the North Caroline mountains). Back at it in earnest today, with plenty of interesting fodder from my social media streams. Here’s what’s caught my attention since last we spoke:
Today is my final day working with Army MEDCOM. It’s been a pretty terrific year overall, and a true privilege to work with all the professionals (across the services) who helped make my time here a success. I’m not sure I’ve ever had a more productive year, but I am more than ready to resume my regular consulting practice, and frankly, to get back out on the road (and back in the courtroom a bit, which I’ve really missed). I’ll be taking some time off from FHO–I wish I could say it was for vacation, but a looming deadline for another project at the beginning of the new year will have me working through the holidays. However, things will be quiet here; we’ll resume regular posts January 4th with a new Articles of Note, fresh educational offerings and our 7th (!) anniversary celebration. And my wish for all of you: a safe, happy, and healthy holiday season; a low patient census; and time filled with the people who refill your cup (literally and figuratively). Thanks for reading, for visiting this nerdy little site, and for the care you provide to the most vulnerable among us (or the support you provide those who do this work, for our non-clinician readers). See you back here in 2016.
Clinical Infectious Diseases (CID) has just published a supplement, Evidence Papers for the CDC Sexually Transmitted Treatment Guidelines. While these articles are not available for free viewing (abstracts are, however), it’s worth noting that they exist for those of you making decisions about test versus treat in your programs, wanting greater understanding of the clinical issue writ large for any particular infection, or simply looking to enhance your knowledge on this topic in general. Couple this with the recently released 2014 STD Surveillance from the CDC for more geographic- and population-specific information. (You can find less North American-centric guidance here; surveillance here.)
We’ve talked about the economic cost of violence here at FHO (there is a clinical guide on the topic, in fact). So I was really interested in this interview on Morning Edition as I was driving in to work today with a health economist. Not just because it addresses actual financial figures (and people can debate whether they believe that these figures are accurate, so wade into the Comments section of this article with care), but because the interviewer, David Greene, asked the intriguing question of his subject, Dr. Ted Miller, what kind of toll does it take on you to think about violence in these terms?
Thanks to everyone who entered last week’s giveaway. The randomizer has spoken, and #15 was chosen: Tracie Bourque, congratulations! I just need an email with your address and we’ll get your copy of the Core Curriculum for Forensic Nursing out to you. If your name wasn’t drawn, there’s a small consolation: Wolters Kluwer Health is generously offering FHO readers 20% off the list price using this link.
Today is my favorite lawyer’s birthday, so on top of the usual holiday festivities, we have birthday shenanigans to attend to, as well (this nice man is cooking for us tonight). The night out will be a treat–I worked through most of the weekend, so there wasn’t a lot of down time. Not much reading happened either (again), but there were a few things that caught my eye since last we spoke:
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The Truth About Hymens and Sex
It’s been a long week, right? How could I possibly resist?
The Truth About Hymens And Sex
"The Truth About Hymens And Sex" – Watch Adam Ruins Everything Tuesdays at 10pm, on truTV!
Posted by CollegeHumor on Monday, December 7, 2015
{H/t Kim Nash}
Don’t forget: we have a giveaway happening right now. Enter here to win a copy of the new Core Curriculum for Forensic Nursing. Entries will be accepted until Friday 11 December. Check out all the detail here.
I don’t know if you’ve been following the excellent reporting being done by ProPublica on medical privacy violations. Their pieces on violations of student medical records and universities accessing student counseling records post-sexual assault, published in October, were great reads. They’ve just published a new article in that series (also featured this morning on NPR): Small-Scale Violations of Medical Privacy Often Cause the Most Harm. These articles are great adjuncts to the kinds of privacy discussions we frequently have in clinical forensic courses and multidisciplinary meetings. Particularly because they provide human stories behind the issue itself, making for a more compelling discussion. Make some time to check out the full series.
Don’t forget: we have a giveaway happening right now. Enter here to win a copy of the new Core Curriculum for Forensic Nursing. Entries will be accepted until Friday 11 December. Check out all the detail here.
WHO has just released their new toolkit, Strengthening the Medico-Legal Response to Sexual Violence (PDF). This is a multidisciplinary guide to the comprehensive response, and is “designed to be used by people working in health‚ social services‚ forensic medicine and lab services‚ police‚ the legal system (including judges and lawyers)‚ and those coordinating these sectors.”
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10 Things: 2015 Team Gift Guide
Don’t forget: we have a giveaway happening right now. Enter here to win a copy of the new Core Curriculum for Forensic Nursing. Entries will be accepted until Friday 11 December. Check out all the detail here.
The last few years, we’ve tried to help you celebrate your team members with gift guides, and as promised, here is our 2015 edition (check out 2014, 2013 and 2012 for more ideas). While once a year may not be enough to express your full appreciation of your fellow colleagues, the holidays are ideal for a slightly grander gesture (even if that gesture isn’t a financially grand gesture, because celebrating people needn’t be costly). Click through for this year’s suggestions to fete your folks:
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Since Last We Spoke, 12-7-15
Don’t forget: we have a giveaway happening right now. Enter here to win a copy of the new Core Curriculum for Forensic Nursing. Entries will be accepted until Friday 11 December. Check out all the detail here.
A very happy Hanukkah to all of you who celebrate: we pulled out our menorahs (one traditional, one awesome glow stick menorah), and Sasha made rugelach last night, so we are in full holiday mode (perhaps there will be latkes in my future–who can say?). It was pretty busy in our household, not just with holiday festivities, but just the business of life after a very hectic work week. Life should be slowing down soon–no more work travel for the rest of the year, the last 2 weeks of my contract with the Army, family time on the horizon. For now, though it’s still full-speed ahead. There wasn’t a whole lot of time for reading, but when I finally crawled into bed last night here’s what caught my eye (since last we spoke):
Don’t forget: we have a giveaway happening right now. Enter here to win a copy of the new Core Curriculum for Forensic Nursing. Entries will be accepted until Friday 11 December. Check out all the detail here.
One of the most popular speakers at the last several IAFN conferences (and at others, as well) has been the very fabulous Claudia Bayliff. If you haven’t had the opportunity to hear her present on the topic of language and sexual violence, you’re in luck: Legal Momentum is hosting a webinar, Raped or Seduced? How Language Helps Shape Our Response To Sexual Violence. It will be held December 10th from 3-4:30 pm ET. Click through for details:
Today is World AIDS Day (read the Presidential Proclamation here). Futures Without Violence has just published their Winter Health E-Bulletin (PDF), and it addresses the intersection of HIV and violence in the healthcare setting. Click through for details about the edition: