The Tribal Forensic Healthcare project has 2 webinars coming up in February, both sexual assault case reviews. The pediatric one, Who Said What?!? Utilizing Case Presentations to Improve Pediatric Forensic Medical Evaluations, will be held February 3rd from 2-3:30pm ET. The adult session, Sexual Assault Examiner: Adult Case Review, will be held February 16th from 2-3:30pm ET. CEUs/CMEs will be available (although see the bolded note regarding intended audience for the peds webinar). Click through for details about both:
Category: Sexual Assault
I took a snow day yesterday, along with almost everyone else in the DC metro area. The government is still shut down today and cars are littering the roads around my neighborhood (although it stopped snowing Saturday night, as of this posting, I still haven’t seen a plow on my street). Technically, today is a snow day, as well, but there really aren’t too many of those for the self-employed. So back at work I am. I’ll be heading to CLE tomorrow for a quick visit with my kiddo, but today, the focus is Articles of Note. So without further explanation, here’s what’s new and noteworthy in the peer-reviewed journals. Click through for both the printable PDF and the link-friendly Word doc. As always, attribution, please, if you use or distribute my work.
Seems like there’s a lot of training on the neurobiology of trauma as of late (not complaining). Here’s another one coming up, this time hosted by the National Crime Victim Law Institute. It will be held January 28th from 12-1:30pm PT (apologies for the late notice). Click through for details:
OVC has a new public awareness video series available, Faces of Human Trafficking. It’s a series “intended to be used for outreach and education efforts of service providers, law enforcement, prosecutors, and others in the community. The series includes information about sex and labor trafficking, multidisciplinary approaches to serving victim’s of human trafficking, effective victim services, victims’ legal needs, and voices of survivors.” There’s also an accompanying discussion guide, and other resources, making this an excellent tool for multidisciplinary education. The series covers both sex and labor trafficking, and all 9 videos can be downloaded. You can view all of them here.
In conjunction with last week’s post about victim notification of untested sexual assault kits, NIJ has just released a new publication: Notifying Sexual Assault Victims After Testing Evidence. The document takes the best of the available evidence and offers up some excellent strategies for what has become an emerging topic. Worth your time, I recommend distributing widely among your multidisciplinary partners.
We’re off today because of the MLK holiday, and we’re getting the most out of this 3-day weekend checking off a whole lot odds and ends from our to-do list. Our house is under construction right now, so we’re limited in what we can do at home. But Internet access hasn’t been interrupted, and therefore much time has been spent online since last we spoke. Here’s what’s caught my eye:
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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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:
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.)
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:
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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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:
Another Monday post, another weekend spent reading about a senseless mass shooting in this country. It’s beyond appalling, and when it targets a women’s health clinic it feels all the more personal. There’s not much I can say that hasn’t already been said here in countless other posts; what was an otherwise lovely and peaceful Thanksgiving holiday was quickly overshadowed by incomprehensible violence and some significantly tone deaf (or outright unreal) political responses. What else can I say this morning but here’s what I’ve been reading since last we spoke: