I receive a lot of questions about determining the age of bruises. Although the research has shown that determining the age of bruising by clinicians based on color provides consistently inaccurate results, with poor interrater reliability, I still find that some are loathe to turn their backs on this highly unreliable assessment technique. So I have provided an overview of the literature below, with articles split into 2 categories: those that address the attempt to age bruises based on color in a routine clinical environment (Clinical Assessment of Bruises) and those that have a much more high-tech approach (Laboratory Assessment of Bruises). These articles address aging bruises using equipment and mathematical models not typically seen in our routine clinical practices. It’s important to note that studies in the latter category found greater success at determining the age of bruises, which further emphasizes the unreliability of visual assessment alone.
Category: Child Abuse
The National Criminal Justice Reference Service has a dedicated section on their site for child abuse-specific resources in honor of National Child Abuse Prevention Month. You’ll find 4 different topical areas:
April is also National Child Abuse Prevention Month here in the US. The Child Welfare Information Gateway has a variety of resources on their site related to prevention, including their Network for Action 2012 Resource Guide. For some clinician-specific info, check out the American Academy of Pediatrics’ page on prevention.
WHO is offering a webinar, which “will focus on capacity for the prevention of family violence, and present WHO’s recently developed comprehensive training packages on the prevention of child maltreatment and the prevention of intimate partner and sexual violence.” The session will be April 3rd from 3-4pm CEST (that’s 9am ET).
Time once again for Articles of Note. This month’s is basically stuff from the 1st quarter. I included a couple of January articles I missed in earlier editions, so you’ll see articles as far back as the beginning of the year. There is so much good stuff on this list. I know I say that a lot, but this month I feel like people took a look at the “I wish people would research ___” section of my Moleskine (and yes, that really is one of the sections because as I’ve mentioned before, I’m a HUGE NERD), and said, “meh, why not?”.
The US Department of Health and Human Services has a webinar series, The Impact of Trauma on Women and Girls Across the Lifespan. Their next offering is March 27th, 2pm ET, Disaster Behavioral Health: Lessons Learned from the Past Decade. However, there are multiple archived sessions available, as well.
Sorry about no post yesterday–zero internet access, which is rare these days. But after a productive day with the Marines on the west coast I am headed home for a few days. And I wanted to make sure you’ve seen this, an amazing document: the National Plan to Prevent the Sexual Abuse and Exploitation of Children (PDF). It’s an update to the 2008 plan. Perfect for my 5 hour flight home…
Don’t forget we have a new giveaway going on! Leave your answer to our question(s) by noon ET on February 29th to be eligible to win a copy of the new Entry-Level Adolescent and Adult Sexual Assault Assessment workbook.
When I ran out to grab some lunch today my radio was set to NPR. And the topic featured on Talk of the Nation? The Hidden Faces of Modern-Day Slavery. While I confess I wasn’t in love with the interviewer’s questions as a whole, the guests were pretty fascinating.
This month’s edition has my inner nerd all aquiver–so much good stuff in the research (particularly if you take care of sexual assault patients). What can I tell you–get on over to your medical library, or fire up your online access and start reading. It’s *that* good this month (and also, I like seeing my friends’ names in print, and there’s some of that, too). As always, this isn’t meant to be a comprehensive overview of what’s out there; just the stuff that caught my eye from the late January, February and early March journals and previews.
Friday, February 24th, you can catch a special edition of America’s Most Wanted that will focus on the global problem of sex trafficking. The episode will air from 9-11pm ET on Lifetime Television (read more about the show here). From the little info I’ve seen, it looks like they may be teaming with the Polaris Project on this one…if anyone has more information on the episode, feel free to leave it in the comments section.
ACOG has released their Committee Opinion on Intimate Partner Violence (abstract only), and Medscape has an overview with accompanying CME (editorial note: Come on, Medscape, no nursing CEUs for this one?). The American Academy of Neurology has also released a position statement this month, although on the broader topic of abuse and violence. You can read the full text here.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Categories
In the News Today
UPDATED 12/15/11
With the massive amount of media buzz surrounding Jerry Sandusky’s pretrial hearing (or waiving there of, as I have just read), I figured I’d point you toward a couple of recently posted (related) resources at the NSVRC site. The 1st is Answers to Questions About Recent Child Sex Abuse Case, written in conjunction with ATSA.
I’m headed to the 216 for some quality family time, to practice a little self-care of my own in the wake of some very trying times. I leave you with this blog post over at Psychology Today by Olga Trujillo: Getting Through Sex Abuse Scandals and Depression.
With it being a slow time of year for educational offerings, I’m thrilled the research journals hold some amazing treasures. This month feels particularly useful, especially if you’re a pediatrics person. As always, this is not a comprehensive overview of what’s newly out, but it is a good selection of late November and December articles you might want to check out. Even if you don’t fancy yourself a journal person, there’s some really clinically applicable material here on everything from STI testing in kids, to emergency contraception and implantation, to evaluating digital photography.
Several folks sent me this yesterday, and I see it making the rounds on Twitter and Facebook. I just got around to reading it this morning. If you have not seen it yet, please read Tyler Perry’s Open Letter to a Penn State 11-Year Old published this week in Newsweek.