Category: Sexual Assault

Articles of Note Child Abuse DV/IPV Elder Abuse/Neglect Sexual Assault

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Articles of Note: February 2020 Edition

Post author By Jen
Post date February 11, 2020
2 Comments on Articles of Note: February 2020 Edition

It’s time once again for Articles of Note, our monthly romp through the newly published peer-reviewed literature. As always, this isn’t an exhaustive review of what’s been released, but a pretty robust list of the science that has caught my eye and feels particularly relevant to practice. Shoutout to all the forensic nurses publishing this month–I see you 🙂

There’s a lot to work through so gird your loins, gang. As always, links lead to PubMed abstracts.

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Articles of Note Child Abuse DV/IPV Elder Abuse/Neglect Sexual Assault Testimony

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Articles of Note: January 2020 Edition

Post author By Jen
Post date January 16, 2020

It’s time once again for Articles of Note, our monthly romp through the newly published peer-reviewed literature, and our first edition here in our new home. There’s plenty to capture the attention, so take your time with the list.

I should also mention for those who didn’t see the initial newsletter or the announcement on social media, we’re giving away two IAFN conference registrations for this year’s meeting in Palm Springs. Last year, we gave away one, and we gave it to a reader. This year, it’s two, and it’s for someone a reader promotes. Why? Because people are out there doing good work. And because that good work needs to be shouted from the rooftops. And because there’s plenty of self-promotion in the world, but a paucity of lifting up of others. And we need to see forensic nurses shining in public. On social media in particular. So if you would like to participate, please tell us about a member of your crew who is doing great things. You can leave a comment here, email us–OR better yet, shout it from the social media rooftops on the FHO Facebook page or on Twitter. Please use the hashtag #ShineOnForensicRN so we can find your entries. Winners won’t be chosen at random so make those entries good. The giveaway will be live until January 22nd. All FHO readers are eligible, including international readers.

Anyway, back to this month’s articles–links lead to PubMed abstracts, excepts where indicated:

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Articles of Note Child Abuse DV/IPV Elder Abuse/Neglect Sexual Assault

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Have you checked out the FHO store lately? You can find the newest research brief, Applying The Strangulation Research To Expert Testimony In Cases With Adult Victims. Or purchase the complete set of three (Strangulation, Aging Bruises, and Consensual Sex Injury) for a special price.

Articles of Note: December 2019 Edition (See You in 2020)

Post author By Jen
Post date December 12, 2019
6 Comments on Articles of Note: December 2019 Edition (See You in 2020)

This will be the last post of the year–I am closing up shop for the remainder of the year to prep a couple of large projects and spend some time with family and friends (not to mention, celebrate a milestone birthday with Sasha 🙂 ). When I come back, it will likely be with a brand new website, a completely new look, and the 11th anniversary of FHO. I imagine there will be a giveaway involved in commemorating that momentous occasion, so stay tuned for more details.

I figured we’d end the year in the most appropriate way–one final Articles of Note to give folks a bit of reading over the holidays. You’ll notice it looks a little different–PubMed has had a facelift, and in the process, is better in some ways, but worse for this list. So now, all links lead to Publisher’s websites for abstracts, except where indicated (and there’s a lot that’s free full text this month). Nice to also see some friends among the authors.

As always, thanks for turning out to this nerdy little website in 2019. Almost 2000 of you now subscribe; more than 22K new users showed up this year, and if you’re wondering what the number one most visited page was on the site (besides the home page, of course), it was this one (which I guess, shouldn’t surprise me that much).

See you back here next year. A safe, happy and healthy holiday to you all.

xoxo Jen

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Have you checked out the FHO store lately? You can find the newest research brief, Applying The Strangulation Research To Expert Testimony In Cases With Adult Victims. Or purchase the complete set of three (Strangulation, Aging Bruises, and Consensual Sex Injury) for a special price.

Prevention Beyond the Binary: From Inclusive Language to Inclusive Sexual and Intimate Partner Violence Prevention for LGBTQ+ Communities

Post author By Jen
Post date December 3, 2019

PreventConnect has an excellent webinar coming up, in part because the presenter lineup is stellar–Prevention Beyond the Binary: From Inclusive Language to Inclusive Sexual and Intimate Partner Violence Prevention for LGBTQ+ Communities. The session will be held December 17th from 2-3:30pm ET. Their stuff tends to fill, but it will be archived so if you can’t attend live, check back because it should be available after the fact. And PLEASE don’t let the “prevention” part of that title deter you, clinicians–1.) prevention applies to your practices; and 2.) even if you don’t believe me, there are lessons to be learned here that will apply to your practices in terms of inclusive language. From the website:

Sexual and intimate partner violence prevention practitioners have the opportunity to advance prevention strategies that will reduce violence against LGBTQ+ communities in ways that are community-centered, inclusive, expansive, and promote healthy, safe communities. Join PreventConnect, the National Resource Center on Domestic Violence, and experts from the field to discuss ways to challenge homophobia and transphobia in evidence-based programming, how to build an expansive framework for prevention beyond prescribed interventions, and ways mainstream organizations can build allyship and inclusiveness starting today.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

Describe inclusive practices that promote LGBTQ+ acceptance and safety
Identify strategies that prevent violence against LGBTQ+ people and communities
Engage in a discussion about the strengths and opportunities within the field of sexual and intimate partner violence prevention to advance primary prevention by and for LGBTQ+ communities

HOSTS/FACILITATORS: Ashleigh Klein-Jimenez & Tori VandeLinde, PreventConnect and CALCASA

GUESTS:

Arlene Vassell, Vice President of Programs, Prevention & Social Change, National Resource Center on Domestic Violence
Casey Keene, Director of Programs & Prevention, National Resource Center on Domestic Violence
Mauro Sifuentes, Independent Consultant and Trainer
michael munson, Executive Director, FORGE
Fatima Arain, Field Coordinator, National LGBTQ Institute on IPV

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Articles of Note Child Abuse DV/IPV Elder Abuse/Neglect Sexual Assault Testimony

VAWA Confidentiality: Empowering Survivors, Protecting Information

Post author By Jen
Post date November 19, 2019

Victim Rights Law Center has a webinar coming up on the critical topic of confidentiality, and since my general experience is that people/programs are not as good at this one as we would all hope, I encourage you to check it out (see Exhibit A — the most recent example in what has become a very dense file). VAWA Confidentiality: Empowering Survivors, Protecting Information will be held December 5th at 1pm ET. [I do not know if it will be archived, so please check with the hosts.] From the announcement:

The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) requires OVW-funded victim service providers to protect survivors’ privacy. This interactive webinar will highlight how VAWA confidentiality requirements compliment survivor empowerment and offer best practices for maintaining survivors’ privacy. By participating in this webinar, victim services providers will be better able to explain how the VAWA privacy requirements relate to survivor-centered care.

This is obviously a multidisciplinary training, so I encourage you to share with colleagues in your SARTs/MDTs. You can register for the session here.

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Articles of Note: November 2019 Edition

Post author By Jen
Post date November 13, 2019

Time once again for Articles of Note, our monthly romp through the peer-reviewed literature. Plenty to read, plenty to consider this month (as always). Links lead to PubMed abstracts–please don’t stop there. Sift through the abstracts to decide what’s worth your time, and what doesn’t apply to your clinical life. Better yet, divide among your colleagues and get together for real-time discussion. What an excellent use of staff meeting time.

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Free Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner Course for the New MSU SANE Program

Post author By Jen
Post date November 12, 2019
1 Comment on Free Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner Course for the New MSU SANE Program

As some of you know, I have spent the last year working with Michigan State University to build a SANE program on campus. Next spring, the program will open its doors; in anticipation of its opening, we will be holding a free SANE training on January 13-17, 2020. Space will be limited, and priority will go to people who are interested in working in the program. We are hiring 4 full-time RNs and a full-time advanced practice nurse who will be the medical director of the program. Prior SANE experience is not required. Anyone interested in working in the program must attend the January course, regardless of prior SANE training or experience. This program will be staffed around the clock; there will be no on-call hours. In addition to the full-time positions, we will also be hiring a small number of adjunct positions to assist when staff members are on vacation or there is a short-term gap in the schedule.

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Kim Day and I will be the primary instructors for this course. We are fortunate that IAFN is a partner in this training, and the curriculum has been modified to address the specific and unique challenges that campus communities face, such as FERPA.

Feel free to contact me if you have questions about the course or any of the positions: jenifer.markowitz@gmail.com. Registration for the course should also be sent back to me.

Please also feel free to share this with non-forensic nursing listservs and social media sites, particularly for those of you in Michigan. Thanks!

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Providing Forensic Healthcare and Support to Native Communities

Post author By Jen
Post date November 6, 2019

The Forensic Technology Center of Excellence has a webinar coming up, Providing Forensic Healthcare and Support to Native Communities. The session will be held November 21st at 1pm ET. Their sessions are archived if you aren’t able to attend live. From the announcement:

Awareness of how to provide culturally appropriate and trauma informed services to the American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) community is important for forensic examiners. This webinar will discuss includes jurisdictional factors affecting examinations, pertinent laws to consider, and health care services that may be available to AI/AN populations.

In this webinar, the presenter discusses factors that forensic examiners should be aware of when providing trauma informed, culturally appropriate services to American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) people. The presenter reviews relevant laws for forensic examiners and explains various jurisdictional factors affecting examinations, chain of custody, and prosecution. Additionally, she discusses types of health care services that may be available to AI/AN populations and provides further resources for healthcare provider training, clinical support, and survivor outreach.

Detailed Learning Objectives:

• Explain at least four factors and barriers that American Indian/Alaska Native people who have experienced domestic sexual violence may encounter when seeking health care and justice.

• Explain differences in state, federal, and tribal jurisdictions related to forensic healthcare access, law enforcement services, and control of crime prosecution.

• Locate and access at least five healthcare training resources, grant sources, and patient support entities that specifically include or promote AI/AN services.

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Child Abuse Sexual Assault

Navigating Difficult Situations: Common Issues SARTs Face

Post author By Jen
Post date November 5, 2019

I”m out in Flagstaff this week (and then I’m headed to Korea next week), so posting may be somewhat light over the next several weeks. But here’s a webinar coming up at the end of the month for those of you looking to strengthen your MDTs: Navigating Difficult Situations–Common Issues SARTs Face is being offered by the Sexual Violence Justice Institute. It will be held November 25th from 1-2:30pm CT. From the announcement:

Sexual assault response teams are a great strategy to improve access to healing and justice for victims/survivors and increase offender accountability. And, there are common issues or barriers that teams face as they strengthen the collaborative response. This webinar will focus on common questions that we receive from SARTs across the country. Although many SARTs experience similar issues, each situation and community requires unique strategies. We will explore the questions, offer strategies that have worked for other teams, and hear some new things that have worked in your communities!

Learning Objectives or Outcomes

Provide examples of common issues that sexual assault response teams face
Discuss strategies for navigating through those issues as a coordinator
Normalize these common issues while acknowledging the unique needs of communities
Walk away with tips and tools to guide you as work with your team

I didn’t see a registration button on their site, so you may need to contact them directly or keep checking their site.

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How to Prevent Sexual Violence Against Children — 7 Days of Ideas

Post author By Jen
Post date October 31, 2019

Here’s a cool-looking offering: Apolitical is offering a micro-course called How to Prevent Sexual Violence Against Children — 7 Days of Ideas. I know nothing about it beyond what’s on their site, but I am thoroughly intrigued:

On November 20, 1989, the UN General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child. 30 years on, major strides in children’s rights have been made, but the nature of sexual abuse and exploitation of children is evolving. Increasingly, abuse and exploitation are happening online — and often governments are ill-equipped to address these new threats.

We’ll walk you through practical approaches to addressing the issue, highlighting the most innovative tools, technologies and techniques which are working to prevent sexual violence against children. You’ll get:

Bite-sized activities or articles, taking 10 minutes or less per day, for 7 days
A practical introduction to evidence-based interventions for preventing child sexual violence – and how to apply it to your work
Global case studies and reading lists highlighting best practices and innovations in the field

You can complete as many or as few as you like, and you’ll have opportunities to connect with peers and experts applying these concepts globally.

To participate you must register by 15 November. See all the details here.

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Articles of Note Child Abuse DV/IPV Elder Abuse/Neglect Sexual Assault Testimony

Medical-Forensic Exam Payment Webinar Series from IAFN

Post author By Jen
Post date October 23, 2019

A very excellent webinar series is coming up, courtesy of IAFN’s new medical-forensic exam billing and payment project. There are three, the first of which will be November 26, 2019 at 12pm ET: When Things Don’t Go Right: Sexual Assault Exam Billing and Payment – It’s TIME for Change! From the website: Come be apart of the solution: 10+ years post VAWA, barriers exist for victims who were guaranteed free exams, including being billed for exams and being pursued by debt collection agencies.

Following that:

nPEP Costs HOW MUCH for the Sexual Assault Patient? December 3, 2019 at 2:30pm ET (Description: The National SAFE Protocol and the CDC recommend that every sexual assault patient be evaluated for HIV risk. However, nurse examiners are often unaware of the actual cost of HIV nPEP, and options for providing nPEP which can affect patient access to medications that may be lifesaving. At the conclusion of this webinar and with the help of four-panel members from three different states and the District of Columbia, the participants will be able to identify the current recommended guidelines for the administration of HIV nPEP to patients in the acute phase post-sexual assault. They will be able to recognize the estimated cost for HIV nPEP, articulate various HIV nPEP billing and payment coverage options, and describe various gaps in HIV nPEP coverage for sexual assault patients across the nation.)

Billing and Coding 101: Learn the Anatomy of Billing and Coding for Sexual Assault Patients like a Pro. December 19, 2019 at 2pm ET (Description: SANE program managers and hospital billing departments are unprepared to properly code requests for payment to state-designated payers for the sexual assault medical forensic examinations which can result in payment denials and patients potentially receiving bills for service, violating VAWA. With the guidance from Shelley Voci, a coding specialist, at the conclusion of this webinar, the participants will be to articulate the history of ICD-10-CM, as well as identify and describe common ICD-10-CM for sexual assault patients, and interpret an example bill for services rendered status post-sexual assault medical forensic examination.)

CEs will be available for IAFN members. The sessions will be archived, in case you can’t make the live session. Register for all the webinars here.

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Articles of Note: October 2019 Edition

Post author By Jen
Post date October 16, 2019

It’s time once again for Articles of Note, our monthly romp through the newly published peer-reviewed literature. There is *a lot* of choice material to sort through this month, so I hope you will spend some quality time with the list. As always, links lead to PubMed abstracts.

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2018 STD Surveillance Report

Post author By Jen
Post date October 10, 2019
1 Comment on 2018 STD Surveillance Report

(1st week of Journal Club is live, so feel free to jump in; we’ll pose new questions each Tuesday.)

The CDC just released its 2018 STD Surveillance Report and it is grim. They’re reporting increases in chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis (including congenital syphilis, which is up 185% since 2014). Helpful to know as you are considering what services to provide, including testing vs presumptive treating, medication choices, etc. As always, consult your local health department as well to get an accurate picture of the incidence and prevalence in your own community.

Read the full report here.

Table of contents if you want to jump around or are interested in specific data.

Here are your state ranking tables.

And for those of you looking for PPT slides, you can find the full downloadable list here.

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Child Abuse DV/IPV Sexual Assault

What We Know About the Polyvictimization of Youth

Post author By Jen
Post date September 25, 2019

The Center for Victim Research has a webinar coming up next week, What We Know About the Polyvictimization of Youth. The session will be held on September 30th at 2pm ET. From the site:

This webinar will focus on poly-victims, the subgroup of youth that endure the highest burden of victimization. We will cover how it has been studied, how often it occurs, what we know about its adverse effects and what we can do to respond to the needs of this highly victimized group of children.

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Articles of Note Child Abuse DV/IPV Elder Abuse/Neglect Sexual Assault Testimony

Succession Planning within Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Organizations, Part 2

Post author By Jen
Post date September 19, 2019

Futures Without Violence has a great management session coming up, a follow-on to its original session on this topic last year. Succession Planning within Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Organizations, Part 2 will be held October 3rd at 2pm ET. From the website:

Leadership transitions can be challenging. For non-profit organizations to succeed, it is essential to think critically about the long-term leadership needs of the organization and to prepare for leadership transitions. Presenters will discuss key elements of a departure defined (planned) succession plan, and describe a process to plan for leadership transition within a domestic violence/sexual assault organization. The webinar will also showcase the experience of succession planning and on boarding process of an executive director in an organization that serves survivors of gender-based violence. We will share planning tools and resources and provide a question-answer period.

As a result of this webinar, participants will be better able to:

Identify key elements of a departure defined (planned) leadership succession.
Apply lessons learned from a real life example of succession planning to your own organizational decision-making.
Utilize critical tools and resources for succession planning.

Succession planning is more important than we typically discuss in forensic healthcare. Many clinical programs tend to hinge on the energy and vision of a single person, and when that person leaves, there is significant peril that the program can fail or end up diminished in a variety of ways. Thinking about the transition of leadership, both as someone comes on board and as someone leaves, is critical. This is a great topic for anyone interested in management or sustainability of clinical programs.

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Articles of Note: September 2019 Edition

Post author By Jen
Post date September 5, 2019

It’s time once again for Articles of Note, our monthly romp through the peer-reviewed literature. Nothing free this month, but plenty worth tracking down, so I encourage you to spend some time with the list. It’s particularly fitting that I get a new edition up since I am sandwiching it between two weeks of teaching testimony, this week at Ft. Hood and next week at the annual IAFN conference, where we discuss at length the importance of fidelity to the science.

All links lead to PubMed abstracts. Happy reading!

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Human Trafficking: Shooting Our Wounded and How to Stop

Post author By Jen
Post date September 3, 2019

IPSCAN has its lasted webinar posted for viewing, Human Trafficking: Shooting Our Wounded and How to Stop. From the website:

Human trafficking is modern-day slavery and the human rights issue of our lifetime, affecting the vulnerable, poor, and oppressed around the world. In this FREE webinar, Dr. Celia Williamson, director of the Human Trafficking and Social Justice Institute at the University of Toledo, will give an overview of trafficking in the U.S. and around the world, including the process of trafficking, indicators to identify victims and traffickers, and how to report it. Rather than continuing to “shoot the wounded” with quick fixes or less-than-best practices, Dr. Williamson advocates for meaningful interventions at the individual and system levels. These can interrupt this practice, create collective change, and transform the way we think about trafficking, from a “Rescue and Restore” mission to a matter of Human Rights.

This is definitely a more introductory webinar, so if you have new members of your team (clinical or MDT) who haven’t had much continuing education on issues of trafficking, particularly trafficking of children and teens, this is a decent option. Nothing revolutionary, but solid info.

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