Well, it’s hard to believe, but I won’t be stepping foot in an airport for 5 weeks. Just one road trip this week to spend some qulity time with the Army in Charlottesville, but aside from that, my work is all local. Gives me a little breathing room, and some time to catch up on odds and ends. So here’s what I’ve been reading since last we spoke:
Category: Child Abuse
I had a comment by a reader recently regarding trauma-informed care and kids, in which she mentioned that trauma and trauma-informed care isn’t just limited to abuse and violence. Agreed, and in light of that comment, I figured I’d present a CE offering (for nurses) that looks at the issues in broader terms–this one from Healthcare Toolbox (read more about them here). They have a free audio program, Pediatric Medical Traumatic Stress that just requires registration to access.
The Sexual Violence Justice Institute at MNCASA is hosting a webinar, Without a Disclosure: One Community’s Approach to Addressing Sex Trafficking of Minors. The session will be held June 26th from 12-1:30 pm CT.
Here’s an interesting one for those of us who spend a lot of time in court (or working to prepare others to testify): the National Child Protection Training Center is offering a webinar, Juror Expectations of Evidence in Child Maltreatment Prosecutions June 20th at 2pm CT. Cost for attendance is $30. From the website:
Much attention has been given to the “CSI Effect” including arguments that no such effect exists or even that it favors the prosecution. This session will address what research shows juries expect generally in sexual assault cases and how child sexual abuse cases can be presented to help meet these expectations. This presentation is useful for both investigators and prosecutors.
Time once again for Articles of Note, our monthly review of what’s new and noteworthy in the peer-reviewed literature. This is a particularly good list–there’s just so much that’s interesting in the journals right now. As always, email me if you want the word doc. Otherwise the embedded doc should have working hyperlinks (thank you Scribd for finally making that change) and is easy to print.
Categories
Big “C” Conversations
When I was in Kansas City last week one of my sessions was geared toward emerging issues in forensic healthcare. I was asked to speak on the topic, and while I understand that the request was geared more towards a “specific populations and circumstances” kind of talk, I decided to take it in a slightly different direction. Instead we talked about some of the Big “C” Conversations I have been having with people in my travels. The kinds of conversation topics that are almost universally applicable no matter where people are practicing, whether it’s North America or Australia, rural or urban. That’s not to say that the conversations about specific populations and circumstances aren’t also universal–they absolutely are. But they aren’t emerging issues. They have been an important part of our clinical knowledge base from the very beginning. Some of the issues I’ve noted below have been, too–but we haven’t necessarily explored them as much as a collective of healthcare providers as I’d like to see.
JAMA Pediatrics has the new article by David Finkelhor and colleagues available online in advance of the print version: Violence, Crime and Abuse Exposure in a National Sample of Children and Youth. If you aren’t a subscriber, you can read a synopsis of the research over at MedPage Today for free. Allegedly there are CMEs attached the MedPage article, although I couldn’t see where that information was available once I clicked on the article link. Maybe you’ll have better luck.
Have you seen the CDC’s new Understanding Evidence site? It’s specifically geared toward those of us who work in the area of violence, and really, please go spend some time with it. As a bonus–free nursing CEs upon completion of each module. If you’re not sure how to use the new interactive site PreventConnect has a webinar this Friday at 11am PT to help remedy that.
A quick post to wish everyone a happy Nurses Day (in the US, or International Nurses Day, which is Sunday–you pick). I’m heading out the door to SoCal for a couple different stops with the Marines (1st defense, then prosecution, so should be a lively week), but I managed to get a little reading done during my brief stop at home. Here’s what’s caught my attention since last we spoke:
First, what a lovely day I spent with Vermont nurses today. Really interesting conversation (plus the location, which I tweeted, was awesome). Second, between training Army lawyers earlier in the week and training 2 sets of Marine lawyers next week, can I tell you how nice it was to be in a room full of clinicians? Not that I don’t love me some lawyers, but still…
Medscape has some interesting articles from this past week that are worth a look…
Time for this month’s Articles of Note, where we give you some of the latest published research from the peer reviewed journals. As always this is not an exhaustive list, just some of the eye catching stuff. For those of you working with the elder population, this is an especially good month for you.
An interesting article in Medscape for all of my pediatrics people out there: Pediatric Skull Fracture–Is Skeletal Survey Indicated? It’s a summary of a study published earlier this year in the Journal of Pediatrics, and because in our testimony workshop today we were discussing the importance of staying current with the science, this is a good example of what’s available to make that process easier.
The US Department of Health and Human Services is hosting a webinar update on the Healthy People 2020 Violence Across the Lifespan section. The session will be April 18th from 12:30-2pm ET. From the announcement:
In the first half of life, more Americans die from violence and injuries—such as motor vehicle crashes, falls, or homicides—than from any other cause including cancer, HIV, or diabetes. Violence and injuries occur at work as well as other settings, and exert a tremendous public health burden across the lifespan.
Please join us on April 18, 2013 at 12:30 p.m. EDT for a Healthy People 2020 Progress Review Webinar featuring the Injury and Violence Prevention and Occupational Safety and Health Topic Areas. This Webinar series focuses on tracking and measuring the progress of Healthy People 2020 objectives.
As part of Sexual Assault Awareness Month, NSVRC is hosting Twitter chats every Tuesday (starting today), based on this year’s theme: healthy sexuality and child sexual abuse prevention. Check out the schedule with topics after the jump:
This week is crazy. Hell, this month is crazy. I know a lot of you are booked up with events and engagements. After all, here in the US, April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month and Child Abuse Prevention Month; Crime Victims’ Rights Week is April 21-27. Lots going on. Happily I had a lovely family weekend before things really let loose. For those of you celebrating, I hope it was a joy filled Easter and Passover (we do both in our household, which means lots of joy, even more food). Here’s some of what I managed to read in between all the festivities since last we spoke:
There have been several published summaries and overviews of the specifics in the recent VAWA reauthorization (PDF). For those of you with questions, here are a few resources to check out:
Time once again for Articles of Note, some of the research that has caught my eye from peer-reviewed journals in the field. As always, this is not a comprehensive outline of every relevant study, just the stuff that looks interesting to me. Scribd is giving me fits, so I have bagged using it this month; the complete list of articles with active links to PubMed is after the jump. Let me know if you want a printable word doc. Sorry–no free full-text this month. Sadness.
The National Health Resource Center on Domestic Violence (Futures Without Violence) has a webinar coming up March 25th from 10-11:30 PDT, A Survivor’s Journey: Understanding the Health Impact of Abuse and Paths to Wellness. The presenter, Olga Trujillo, is someone I like very much and it’s always great hearing her speak, so I would just go ahead and register for this one, especially if you missed her in Puerto Rico last year at the IAFN Annual Scientific Assembly (she was one of our keynotes). It’s sure to be a good use of your time.
The CDC has a new website focusing on the public health implications of child maltreatment. It’s part of the Veto Violence campaign and while it’s specifically geared toward health department personnel and other public health professionals, there are some things on the site that feel incredibly relevant to my practice, as well.