Today is my partner’s birthday. We applied for our marriage license today. Plenty of reasons for joy. Lots to be grateful for. But I have to tell you–as a parent, a healthcare provider and a citizen of this country I am filled with grief in the wake of the devastation in Connecticut and that is coloring everything around me. It is time for a meaningful conversation about gun control once and for all. This madness had to stop.

We are a military family. We own a handgun. I am not advocating for getting rid of all the guns. But the correlation between access and gun violence cannot be denied. All of us who do this work know just how easily violence flows through our communities. We are witness to it. Every day. Why on earth do we as a country continue to make it not only easy, but efficient for people to take lives?

The NRA has a powerful lobby here in DC, but who will be lobbying for those 26 people, most of whom were kids between the ages of 5 and 10, who died in Connecticut today? My prayers are with those victims and their families, the first responders and medical staff treating the wounded, and the entire town of Newtown, which will forever be shaped by this horror.

Good information, creatively (and simply) delivered:

(AsapSCIENCE via Jezebel)

As I mentioned last week, I will be featuring some go-to tools and resources this holiday season for those of you thinking about how to upgrade your team’s operations or reward staff for their amazing dedication to this work and our patients. (Feel free to contact me with your own list of tools and resources and I’ll feature them here this month.) First up, Karyn Rasile from Scottsdale, AZ:

When it comes to CE offerings, one of the most popular topics on this site is sexually transmitted diseases (what does this say about us as a discipline I wonder?). If you’re looking for a little bit of a refresher, or you need the hours, the CDC has an STD self-study that includes modules on gonorrhea, chlamydia, and vaginitis (which I think is helpful to know when it comes to that whole question, is it pathology, is it trauma or is it a normal variant?). The curriculum is based on the 2010 treatment recommendations.

Time once again for our annual gift guide (you can see previous year’s guides here, here, and here). I’ve tried to give a broad array of serious and fun, useful and much less so. Click through to see this year’s recommendations. In addition to the gift guide I will also be posting an assortment of must have tools and resources from valued colleagues and friends in the field, so look for those over the next couple weeks.

This was recently posted on TED and I absolutely love it. You don’t have to be an aid worker in a distant country to get the general lesson in this pointed and very funny talk by Ernesto Sirolli. It speaks volumes about entrepreneurship and management and my guess is that if you listen hard enough, you may find some relevance to the work we do every day.

Thought you might enjoy this video from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which addresses much of what we do as forensic healthcare providers (and if I’m not mistaken, includes an IAFN board member, which is very cool).

For the first time in more than 20 years we have everyone under one roof for what is my family’s most cherished holiday. Kids, spouses and grandkids are all at my folks’ place for the week. We will only be 9 (we’re a small crew), but we will cook for twice that, with many hands in the kitchen and an enormous capacity to enjoy (and eat) the meal that will take days to prep, and less than an hour to devour. I have taken the rest of the week off, and am grateful to have these days at home with my people. For those of you who will not have the luxury of being with your people on this holiday, especially those of you working a shift or taking call, thank you. I hope it will be quiet and uncomplicated, that you will be working with your favorite colleagues, that overtime will be unnecessary. And that a plate of good food will be waiting for you, wherever you are. Happy thanksgiving. See you back here Monday.

For your consideration: Anything that encourages more ethical communication is always a welcome resource. Let this piece from the Harvard Business Review blog network add to the conversation.