Time once again for a run down of some of the new and noteworthy articles in the current literature (something I almost forgot to do this month!). All of these are from the late January/February/March issues and electronic previews. As always, please keep in mind this in no way a comprehensive list; simply items that have caught my attention from a selection of peer-reviewed journals. Links lead to PubMed abstracts; from there you can choose what’s worth a.) paying for; b.) a pilgrimage to your nearest medical library; or c.) downloading via the full-text access you possibly have at your disposal.
Category: Child Abuse
Last spring, I published a piece examining alternate light sources as a tool for semen and other bodily fluid detection. I promised I would come back with a piece on using ALS to identify and photograph injury not obvious or visible to the naked eye. Coincidentally I’ve been asked for some predicate questions by a prosecutor on this very issue, so in the spirit of bang for buck and all that, here you go:
Not surprisingly, there hasn’t been a ton written on this subject. I am including several links here, but unfortunately, they’re not all full-text. Some of these links don’t provide a guide for using ALS, so much as they support the use of ALS in the context of a broader approach to identifying injury. However, keep in mind: there is little research that supports using ALS for this purpose, so from an evidence-based standpoint you are out in the weeds. Be prepared to discuss this if one of your cases goes to court. (This is the kind of science I’m looking for on this subject, for those of you who have asked me.)
{My editorial here. Of note: “There is no evidence base, therefore, to support the use of an alternate light source as an independent tool to definitively interpret fluorescence as a sub- clinical bruise (i.e., bruising that is not visible to the naked eye). Given the high false-positive rate in detecting subclinical bruising, it is essential for medical and legal professionals to understand the resulting implications of promoting the use of ALS in a forensic setting.” (p. 5)}
Advances in Clinical Forensic Medicine
Alternative light source (polilight®) illumination with digital image analysis does not assist in determining the age of bruises
Enhancing the Visibility of Injuries with Narrow-Banded Beams of Light within the Visible Light Spectrum
Experience With Wood Lamp Illumination and Digital Photography in the Documentation of Bruises on Human Skin (full text)
Forensic Photography. Ultraviolet Imaging of Wounds on Skin
Forensic Ultraviolet Light in Clinical Practice: Evidence for the Evidence (full-text)
Marked Women (full-text)
Routine use of ultraviolet light in medicolegal examinations to evaluate stains and skin trauma
Soft Tissue Injuries in Victims of Color (Poster)
Spectrophotometric evaluation of the age of bruises in children: measuring changes in bruise color as an indicator of child physical abuse.
The Police Report Says He Choked Her–How Do I Prove It? (full text)
Use of an Alternate Light Source to Assess Strangulation Victims (full text for IAFN members and JFN subscribers)
Bite wound viewed under ultraviolet light (Photo: Color Atlas of Domestic Violence)
I’ve been meaning to get a new clinical guide up, but this one has been a challenge. See, injury photography hasn’t been written up extensively in the literature. What is out there is by and large pretty old (you’ll see several Polaroid references in the resources I share). Still, all of these have something to offer forensic practice. As with everything I post, due diligence, please. Read through the materials and decide for yourself whether these are useful and relevant to your work. And if you have other resources and tools you like not already listed here, by all means send them on and I’ll be happy to include them with attribution.
I had an email yesterday about finding CEUs for forensic nurses, which made me think that it’s probably a good time to remind people about the free CEUs available online from IAFN. If you haven’t yet checked them, I encourage you to do so, because, did I mention they’re free (unless you’re not a member, then they’re $10 each)? And they’re specific to forensic nursing, which is tough to find. As you know, a lot of the CEs out there are either too simple or too tangential to our work, so offerings like these are invaluable.
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Playground
Nest Foundation has produced an incredibly powerful film on child sex trafficking in America. Playground is being used to raise awareness of child commercial sexual exploitation. The foundation’s website promises other art-driven media campaigns and an educational curriculum for high school students to follow.
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Our Next Giveaway
THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED.
Once again, our friends at GW Medical Publishing have picked out a title for one lucky FHO reader to receive. As with the previous giveaways, all you need to do to enter the giveaway is answer a simple question in the comment section of this post. Readers have until Friday, January 29th, noon ET to respond. I will choose a winner via random number generator and post the winner’s name here on the site on Monday, February 1st. Click through for a message from GW Medical about the details of this month’s giveaway:
I had the privilege of attending a focus group on victim intimidation with predominantly law enforcement professionals yesterday. As the only healthcare provider in the room, I was trying to impress upon the group that clinicians have a stake in victim intimidation, and that the healthcare implications are significant. Although people most often think of victim intimidation in organized crime and gang cases, we see it more often in DV, sexual assault, child abuse, and even elder abuse cases. Which leads us to this post, because I’m interested in a couple things:
Time once again for a run down of some of the new and noteworthy articles in the current literature. All of these (but one) are from the December/January issues. As always, please keep in mind this in no way a comprehensive list; simply items that have caught my attention from a selection of peer-reviewed journals. Links lead to PubMed or publisher abstracts; from there you can choose what’s worth a.) paying for; b.) a pilgrimage to your nearest medical library; or c.) downloading via the full-text access you possibly have at your disposal.
Welcome back. Hope your holiday was a good one (and your up-coming week a short one). Over at Medscape they have a piece on conditions that mimic child sexual abuse findings. It’s a reprint of Horner’s article originally published this fall in the Journal of Pediatric Health Care.
Time once again for a run down of some of the new and noteworthy articles in the current literature. All of these are from the November/December/January issues. As always, please keep in mind this in no way a comprehensive list; simply items that have caught my attention from a selection of peer-reviewed journals. Links lead to PubMed or publisher abstracts; from there you can choose what’s worth a.) paying for; b.) a pilgrimage to your nearest medical library; or c.) downloading via the full-text access you possibly have at your disposal.
STIPDA, ASTHO, and NACCHO have several archived injury prevention webcasts, 2 of which might appeal: Integrating Injury and Violence Prevention with Maternal and Child Health Programs, and Integrating Injury and Violence Prevention with Healthy Again Initiatives. They are free to access–the archive site also includes a variety of supporting articles and other materials for the maternal-child session that are probably worth perusing, particularly for those of you working in the area of abusive head trauma (scroll to mid-page to find them).
Time once again for a run down of some of the new and noteworthy articles in the current literature. All of these are from the October/November issues. As always, please keep in mind this in no way a comprehensive list; simply items that have caught my attention from a selection of peer-reviewed journals. Links lead to PubMed abstracts; from there you can choose what’s worth a.) paying for; b.) a pilgrimage to your nearest medical library; or c.) downloading via the full-text access you possibly have at your disposal. To be honest, it was kind of a light month; not nearly so much grabbed me in my rounds of the recent stuff.
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Digital Safety: Cyberstalking
I love when readers (especially readers abroad) send me links I never would have run across otherwise: this summer in London, the UK hosted their inaugural digital safety conference, which “brought together thought leaders, policy makers, legal professionals, law enforcement agencies, government representatives, educators, industry leaders and those committed to protecting civil liberties to consider the health, reputation and environment of the digital world”.
Time once again for a run down of some of the new and noteworthy articles in the current literature. All of these are from the September/October issues (with the exception of one published in late August, but newly available electronically). As always, please keep in mind this in no way a comprehensive list; simply items that have caught my attention from a selection of peer-reviewed journals. Most links lead to PubMed abstracts (except for one free full-text article); from there you can choose what’s worth a.) paying for; b.) a pilgrimage to your nearest medical library; or c.) downloading via the full-text access you possibly have at your disposal.
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New CEU Offerings
RN.org has several new CE offerings available that might be of interest to readers. It’s a flat $19.95 for unlimited CEs (in a 12 month period), and they offer some of the state mandated courses, as well as a general selection. That’s actually a pretty fantastic value for the money–something to consider springing for if you just don’t have the budget to send your team members to conferences this year.
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Drug Endangered Children
I received a request from a reader looking for information about the medical care of children pulled out of meth labs (also known as drug endangered children). I know several of you out there are doing this kind of work, so please chime in with recommended resources you like and use.
Time once again for a run down of some of the new and noteworthy articles in the current literature. All of these are from the August/September issues. As always, please keep in mind this in no way a comprehensive list; simply items that have caught my attention from a selection of peer-reviewed journals. All links lead to PubMed abstracts; from there you can choose what’s worth a.) paying for; b.) a pilgrimage to your nearest medical library; or c.) downloading via the full-text access you possibly have at your disposal. The list is alphabetical by journal.
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Promoting Resilience
On September 9th, the Technical Assistance Partnership for Child and Family Mental Health is hosting a webinar from 4-5:30 ET: Promoting Resilience in Children & Youth Who Experience Childhood Abuse. Participation is free of charge.
This Webinar will examine the phenomenon of resilience as it applies to survivors of childhood trauma – specifically child abuse and neglect. Pat Stanislaski (former Administrator, Office of Early Childhood Services, New Jersey) will offer participants the opportunity to discuss why resilience is so important, how it is influenced by factors inside and outside the home, and what factors nurture resilience in children…
I had a colleague ask me for some resources for training healthcare providers on child sexual abuse, and while this wasn’t a resource specific to her needs, it made me realize I’ve never posted it before. The American Academy of Pediatrics published a web-based sexual violence prevention program last year. There’s quite a bit of information contained in it, so it’s probably worth trolling through the different sections. They break it up into age groups, too, so you can review based on interest (e.g. if you only see adolescents and adults in your practice, there are tabs for younger and older adolescents).
The National Child Protection Training Center is offering a free webinar: When the Victim is Very Young: Investigation and Litigation of Child Sexual Abuse Cases. It will be held September 17th at 3pm Central and Victor Vieth will be the faculty for the session. Please note: advanced registration is required and closes September 10th. Click here to register.
I know it’s not the most clinically-focused offering I’ve put up, but I also know there are a lot of Victor Vieth fans among you. Plus it’s great info to take back to your MDTs or SARTs.