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

Articles of Note: January 2020 Edition

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:

Loader Loading…
EAD Logo Taking too long?

Reload Reload document
| Open Open in new tab

Download [208.39 KB]

_________________

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.

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

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

Loader Loading…
EAD Logo Taking too long?

Reload Reload document
| Open Open in new tab

Download [107.06 KB]

________________

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.

Categories
Child Abuse DV/IPV Elder Abuse/Neglect

Best Practice Guidelines for Child Abuse, Elder Abuse, and Intimate Partner Violence (& a Short Rant)

I meant to post this a couple of weeks ago when it showed up in my inbox and then it got buried, so I am a bit late in getting this up. The American College of Surgeons recently published its Trauma Quality Improvement Program Best Practice Guidelines for Child Abuse, Elder Abuse, and Intimate Partner Violence. This is a pretty rich resource for all of you hospital-based folks out there (and there’s some helpful information for those of you in the community, as well). It’s a chewy document (more than 120 pages), so there’s a lot to work through, but it’s certainly worth your time. Screening tools, assessment recommendations, coding resources–it’s all in there.

And not for nothing, but related to a significant pet-peeve of mine: this is what we’re talking about when we’re talking about best practices. Guidelines created from evidence-based literature when available and consensus of a professional clinical/scientific group when evidence is unavailable. Frequently (read: at trial) people like to sling the term best practices around with no weight behind it. Best practices are not oral traditions passed down from clinician to clinician. Best practices are written documents, published and available to the profession. If you tell me (or testify) that something is a best practice, please be prepared to identify where that best practice can be found. Because if it’s not published somewhere, it’s not a best practice–it’s just your practice.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

__________________________

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.

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

Articles of Note: November 2019 Edition

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.

Loader Loading…
EAD Logo Taking too long?

Reload Reload document
| Open Open in new tab

Download [139.03 KB]

_______________________

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.

Categories
Child Abuse Sexual Assault

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

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.

____________________________

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.

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

Articles of Note: October 2019 Edition

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.

Loader Loading…
EAD Logo Taking too long?

Reload Reload document
| Open Open in new tab

Download [137.74 KB]

__________________________

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.

Categories
Child Abuse Sexual Assault

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.

__________________________

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.

Categories
Child Abuse

WHO Guidelines for the Health Sector Response to Child Maltreatment

[There’s still time to join us for our first Journal Club–get all the details here.]

WHO has a new guideline for the health sector response to child maltreatment. From the site:

Every year up to 1 billion children experience physical, sexual or psychological violence. These new WHO guidelines aim to help frontline healthcare providers to recognize children who have suffered from violence and neglect and provide evidence-based first line support. Specifically, the guidelines focus on:

  • Identification of children who are exposed to abuse or neglect
  • Supportive communication with children suspected to be victims of abuse or neglect
  • Assessing and addressing the safety of the child
  • Interacting with caregivers in suspected cases of child maltreatment
  • Providing immediate medical and psychosocial support for children exposed to child maltreatment
  • Collecting medical history, conducting physical exams and appropriate documentation of findings

These new guidelines complement Responding to children and adolescents who have been sexually abused: WHO clinical guidelines which were published in 2017.

Download the full report here (PDF).

______________________________

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.

Categories
Child Abuse DV/IPV Sexual Assault

What We Know About the Polyvictimization of Youth

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. 

Register here.

_______________________

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.

Categories
Child Abuse

Children in Detention: Critical Clinical, Legal, Policy, and Human Rights Issues for Health Professionals

The National Health Collaborative on Violence and Abuse (NHCVA) is hosting a webinar, Children in Detention: Critical Clinical, Legal, Policy, and Human Rights Issues for Health Professionals. It will be held on September 25th at 2pm ET. From the website:

Thousands of children seeking refuge from life-threatening danger in their home countries have been detained by U.S. immigration authorities, and in some cases, separated from their parents and caregivers. This urgent webinar, sponsored by the National Health Collaborative on Violence and Abuse (NHCVA) and presented by colleagues from the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP), the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and Kids in Need of Defense (KIND) addresses the clinical, mental health, policy, legal, and human rights issues faced by detained migrant children and their caregivers. Particular attention will be paid to how participants can harness their own professional training and standing to become more involved in both direct service and advocacy, in order to address what many consider to be an urgent humanitarian crisis and a deliberate assault on human rights.

Register for the session here.

__________________________________

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.

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

Articles of Note: September 2019 Edition

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!

Loader Loading…
EAD Logo Taking too long?

Reload Reload document
| Open Open in new tab

Download [116.21 KB]

______________________________

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.

Categories
Child Abuse Sexual Assault

Human Trafficking: Shooting Our Wounded and How to Stop

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.

_________________________

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.

Categories
Child Abuse DV/IPV Elder Abuse/Neglect Sexual Assault

Five Lies We Tell Ourselves About Trauma

Jason Kander and his wife Diana published an excellent article over at Crooked Media today, Five Lies We Tell Ourselves About Trauma. It’s 100% relevant to the work we all do because it applies equally to the issue of secondary trauma, which is something we should be discussing far more in our field. It would be a great topic for an upcoming staff meeting–particularly as a way to check in with the team.

There’s a lot that resonates, but one thing in particular:

I made the mistake of trying to rank—and therefore disregard—my own trauma for many years, and that only made things worse. If something happened and you haven’t felt right since, then you should address it. To quote a friend, “Somewhere there’s a vet who was in the first wave at the D-Day invasion telling himself to get over it because he was all the way in the back of the landing craft.” 

Thinking “other people have it worse” doesn’t actually diminish your own trauma, it just diminishes your power to heal, because your brain only knows what you experienced. Whether it’s combat, a serious accident, or an assault, there are many possible sources of trauma. Telling yourself to get over it, or thinking “I shouldn’t let this bother me,” will get you nowhere. 

Read the whole article here.

_______________________

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.

Categories
Child Abuse

Burns in Pediatric Abuse

An FHO reader sent me a request looking for an educational session focused on burns in child abuse. I got you–the National Children’s Advocacy Center has an archived webinar, Burns in Pediatric Abuse. Dr. Jonathan Thackeray is the featured speaker.

It’s free–you just need a one-time registration to log-in. And FYI, their complete list of medical webinars includes:

All of them are available to view once you’ve registered on the site.

__________________________

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.

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

Articles of Note: August 2019 Edition

It’s time once again for Articles of Note, our regular romp through the peer-reviewed science. Check it: we have not one, but two scientific papers this month on physicians committing misconduct, so that’s fascinating. We also get a look at how a clinician’s personal history of domestic violence impacts clinical care. Needless to say, there’s some good reading to be done in this edition (as always). Most links go to PubMed abstracts except where otherwise indicated.

Loader Loading…
EAD Logo Taking too long?

Reload Reload document
| Open Open in new tab

Download [111.88 KB]

__________________________________

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.

Categories
Child Abuse Sexual Assault

Child Sexual Abuse, Disclosure, and PTSD: Safer Responses to Disclosure

ISPCAN’s August Journal Club webinar will be Child Sexual Abuse, Disclosure, and PTSD: Safer Responses to Disclosure. The session will be held August 8th at 12pm ET. From the registration page:

This webinar will discuss the relationship between child sexual abuse, disclosure, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Given the importance of safe responses to disclosure of child sexual abuse, this webinar will also discuss VEGA (Violence, Evidence, Guidance, Action), a Canadian public health response to family violence. VEGA includes a handbook for recognizing and responding safely to family violence, as well as scripts and ‘how-to’ videos showing providers examples of how to safely respond to family violence, including child sexual abuse.

You can read the article on which this webinar will focus here (FULL TEXT).

Register for the session here.

____________________________

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.

Categories
Child Abuse Sexual Assault

It Really is “Normal to be Normal” in Child Sexual Abuse

SAFEta has a webinar coming up on a popular topic, It Really is “Normal to be Normal” in Child Sexual Abuse. Dr. Karen Farst will be the speaker. The session will be held September 26th at 2pm ET. Like all their webinars, it will be archived. From the registration page:

The majority of children who have been sexually abused do not have residual findings of physical injury on the medical examination. Case based scenarios will be used to discuss how the anatomy of pre and post pubertal children and the dynamics of child sexual abuse (including disclosure dynamics) play into this fact. Key literature references will be provided and summarized for use in court preparation on “normal” cases.

Register here.

_________________________________

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.

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

Articles of Note: July 2019 Edition

It’s time once again for Articles of Note, our monthly romp through the peer-reviewed literature. This month there’s quite a bit that’s freely downloadable, so look for the FREE FULL TEXT notations for immediate gratification. Otherwise, links lead to PubMed abstracts and you can take it from there. Plenty here to keep you occupied…

Loader Loading…
EAD Logo Taking too long?

Reload Reload document
| Open Open in new tab

Download [105.64 KB]

_____________________________

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.

Categories
Child Abuse DV/IPV Elder Abuse/Neglect Sexual Assault Testimony

Using Expert Eyes and Ears to Document What We See and Hear

SAFEta has a webinar coming up, On Looking and Writing: A Guide to Using Expert Eyes and Ears to Document What We See and Hear. The session will be held August 15th at 2pm ET. From the registration:

This webinar will help participants unlock their ability to see and write; to document their patient’s physical state and behaviors in an accurate manner. You will learn how to “paint a picture” with your words and accurately describe outward appearance, visible behavior, speech and eye contact using instantly understandable language.

Register for the webinar here.

_______________________________________

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.


Categories
Child Abuse Sexual Assault

Pediatric Sexually Transmitted Infection Update

SAFEta has a webinar coming up featuring Dr. Lori Frasier, Pediatric Sexually Transmitted Infection Update. The session will be held July 25th at 2pm ET. It will be archived so no worries if you can’t attend live. From the announcement:

Dr. Lori Frasier, professor of pediatrics chief of the division of child abuse pediatrics at Penn State Hershey Children’s Hospital will discuss pediatric STI’s and HIV testing updates, when to test for STI’s, the implications of positive tests and transmission of these infections.

Register here.

__________________________________

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.