The CDC has a free, online violence prevention course available at their VetoViolence site: Principles of Prevention. It includes 1.7 hours of continuing educations for nurses; 1.75 for physicians.
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The Story of a Suicide
The New Yorker’s lastest issue has a fascinating article about the death of Tyler Clementi, a Rutger’s student who committed suicide last year after being outed as gay. The circumstances leading up to his outing, the actions of his roommate and another student, and the criminal justice response are all detailed in the article. It’s a long one (14 pages), so put it aside for when you have some time, but it’s worth the read.
His family started a foundation in his name; you can read more about (and contribute to) the work they do here.
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Making Mistakes
Somewhere on my list of things I’d like to do some day (and I have a whole section in my notebook for just such a list) is “host a meeting on getting it wrong”. When I was a kid, I used to go with my dad (who’s a doc) to a meeting he attended every year out in Colorado. The whole premise of the meeting was to discuss one case where a mistake had been made, and the resulting patient outcome had been a bad one. It was a small meeting, invitation only, and it was meant to use the participants’ errors as a jumping off point for discussions on improving practice and the profession as a whole. No grandstanding, no tales of heroics that reversed or resolved the error at the last minute. Lots of here’s what we did wrong.
February 6th is WHO’s International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation. Find information about the day, and fact sheets about FGM at WHO’s site.
(Hat tip: NSVRC)
For those of you looking for quality, concise information on emergency contraception (EC), the Reproductive Health Access Project has some new options. Better yet, they are available in several languages. Their patient EC user guide is available in PDF or Word, in English and Spanish. Their EC planning guide is available in English, Spanish, Creole and Portuguese. There’s also a patient handout (available in English, Spanish, Creole, and Portuguese), which differentiates EC and medical abortion (“the abortion pill”), for patients who may struggle with concerns about similarities between the two.
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Recent Sexual Assault Articles
I’m teaching this week in Houston, so it may end up being a spare week here at FHO (these are some long days, my friends, and sometimes my brain hurts at the end of them). But I wanted to share a few recent articles and op-eds that have been published on the issues of sexual assault and sexual exploitation that might be of interest. Thanks to all of you who sent them over:
The Northwest Network is offering a webinar on February 14th, Engaging the Legal System: Rights and Experiences of LGBTQ Survivors of Domestic Violence. It’ll be held from 12-1:30 pm PT, and you can register here. I’m really looking forward to this one, since we know that patient concerns about the realities of the legal process can often be a huge barrier to coming forward.
For those of you not able to make the live presentation of The Science Base for Prevention of Injury and Violence, it is now available as a webcast on the CDC’s site. You can also download a print-friendly PDF of the slides.
The Ash Center’s Government Innovator’s Network has a webinar coming up: Building a Risk Assessment Tool for the NH Bureau of Elderly and Adult Services. It will be held January 31st from 2-4pm ET. The session will specifically look at researcher-practitioner partnerships, which is always of interest to me (and I know many of you have been on the practitioner end of these partnerships., as well). You can register for the webinar here.
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The National Child Protection Training Center has a webinar coming up on abusive head trauma. Preventing Shaken Baby Syndrome by Educating Caregivers is being offered on January 30th, 2pm CT. Space is limited to 100, so if you’re interested, register ASAP.
I’ll be honest with you–last week was not my best week. I can muscle my way through almost anything, with good game face, to boot. But last week I succumbed to a migraine, and as I’m sure many of you know, there’s nothing more humbling than being alone in an ED in a city very far from home, spending hours trying to will your body to work just enough to get you to the next city.
Tuesday, January 17th, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is offering the next in their Grand Rounds series: The Science Base for the Prevention of Injury and Violence. The live webcast will also be archived for 48 hours after the event. And if you’re interested in CEs, you can register for them here.
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Bath Salts
I had a reader send me a question regarding bath salts, which she reports is increasingly common in her emergency department. She asked if there was any decent info out there to share with colleagues, since most of what’s on the internet is of unknown quality, or is an actual how-to (either make or obtain). Coincidentally, Medscape has a piece on bath salts this week, although sadly, it doesn’t have any CE attached to it.
It’s time once again for Articles of Note. These are a selection from the late December and January peer-reviewed journals that have caught my attention. Remember, it’s in no way a comprehensive or exhaustive list, but it’s an excellent place to start. The majority of the links will take you to PubMed. There are also a couple free full-text article in here. I’ve tried to add in a few more non-North American studies at the request of a few of my readers.
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Happy 3rd Anniversary, FHO
In the crazy post-holiday hustle I somehow lost track of the fact that January 6th was the 3rd Anniversary of FHO. Thanks to everyone who helps support this nerdy little hobby that has become a truly integral part of my professional world. And please keep coming to me with ideas and suggestions for growing and improving this site.
I just received this notice, but I’ll be on a plane when it’s scheduled (on Monday the 9th). Perhaps some of you would like to attend:
Friends:
The Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation has announced the adoption of a revised definition of rape in the Uniform Crime Report.
I missed this offering when it was live, but happily for us, it’s been archived:
The Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation held a webinar in November, Best Practices to Combat Child Trafficking. The archived webinar also includes downloadable slide decks from each of the 3 speakers, as well as a nice looking resource page.
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Don’t Be Nice, Be Kind
I’m not much for resolutions, but this is a piece that used to hang in my old home office (and now still hangs virtually in my Evernote box) that never seems to lose its impact. I don’t remember who initially introduced me to it, but it never stops resonating with me. It seems like a good time to share it with all of you.
Because it’s one of the most popular items here at FHO, just a quick head’s up: it’s been updated.