Weekly Wrap-Up @ the Sustainability Blog

Late getting to this post today–I’ve been wandering the state engaging in some pretty interesting conversations, which means a long night trying to catch up (I confess I took time out for homemade Chinese dumplings, made with great love, if not great skill by my husband). What does this have to do with the sustainability site? Not a thing–so I suppose I should get to it:

• A reminder about some of the great online courses offered by the Foundation Center–this one on finding funders [Pam B.: this may be a good resource in response to your question]
• More conversation about rehiring former employees
• Info about using Facebook Causes to potentially support your program

A word about next week–Tuesday I will be heading to the ATL for the IAFN Annual Assembly. While my good intentions are to keep regular posts going throughout the week, there’s an excellent chance I may miss a day or two. Posts that go up (with the exception of Monday’s) will be special posts from the conference–I hope to recap the best of what I see and hear. For those of you who will be there, please come by and say hello–you’ll find me at the NSVRC booth in the exhibit hall or at a couple of the sessions (including one I’m doing on using technology for education). Looking forward to seeing people there, chaotic as it will be.

To those heading to the Assembly, safe travels. And to all our readers–have a great (warm and dry) weekend!

Weekly Wrap-Up @ the Sustainability Blog

Just back from a terrific trip to CO Springs/Alamosa (where, among other things, I got a tour of the gorgeous Memorial program and also ate my weight in Mexican food). We were also busy over at the Sustainability site this week:

• A reminder about the Victim Privacy webinar being hosted by SAFE TA on Oct. 13th  (also posted here)
• Information about the hands-on, day-long leadership and program management workshop we’re doing at IAFN next month: there are still a handful of spots left, so if you’re interested, please register soon. The session will be capped at 45 participants (plus table faculty)
• Two great posts on critical management issues: delivering praise and managing pessimists on your team

It may have been snowing in Colorado this week, but it’s gorgeous and sunny in the 216, and I’m actually home for a sustained period of time (3 weeks!). So I’m very much looking forward to my weekend. Hope yours is a good one, too!

Weekly Wrap-Up @ the Sustainability Blog

Much of the content on the sustainability site this week was pretty self-centered, I must say. But hopefully it’s useful, so, if you’ll indulge me:

• The slides from the session I did at NSAC on sustainability are posted here under Conference Handouts (click here to go to them directly). They’ll be available for 30 days (after that, by request).
• I’ll be hosting a web forum on sustainability for OVC Sept. 30th from 2-3pm
• A fantastic (and relatively brief) tool for managers of all stripes: a guide to effective communication that has some great recommendations for delivering bad news, holding meetings that don’t waste people’s times, and much more.

I’m off to the wilds of Colorado this weekend and will be working from there most of next week. I’ll try and keep posts pretty regular, assuming my connectivity is reasonable. Have a great weekend!

Weekly Wrap-Up @ the Sustainability Blog

It’s a great week at the sustainability site. First off, I’m so excited to be able to bring you a new Friday Coordinator Q&A with Emily Huggins in York, PA (thanks, Emily!). In addition:

• A terrific piece on why leaders should lighten up that I think is pretty relevant
• And an interesting way to look at what your website says about you and your program’s mission

Next week is the NSAC conference in Alexandria. I’ll be presenting a couple sessions there and am looking forward to seeing many of you. Please stop by the AEquitas booth or snag me after a session and say hello if you’ll be there.

Have a safe and happy holiday weekend!

Preventing Sexual Violence 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).

Generic Plan B

Monday, pharmaceutical companies can start marketing a generic version of Plan B. I hope this will increase access to emergency contraception (EC), but I am skeptical. Part of the problem is a fundamental misunderstanding of how Plan B works (or doesn’t work, for that matter). Part of the problem is the regulatory issues which won’t change just because there’s a generic version.

I’d like to think that clinicians are better informed about EC today, but I’m not sure that’s true everywhere. However, I stumbled across a pretty cool tool that can assist you in putting together a high quality presentation on this topic, should you care to provide some training to staff or colleagues.

Weekly Wrap-Up @ the Sustainability Blog

There’s been a lot of activity over at the Sustainability site this week, in large part due to the release of our 1st project bulletin, Sustainability 101: Long Range Thinking for Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner Program Managers. Thanks to everyone who’s sent me lovely comments about the report. Stay tuned, because our 2nd one, on writing business plans for SANE programs, will be released in a few weeks. Other happenings this week:

• A fantastic (and brief) blog post on a few easy ways to make your employees happy
• More publicity for the IAFN management/leadership session we’re doing in the ATL
• And we’re back with a new Friday Q&A, this week with Shalotta Sharp from Cuba, AL (BTW, if you’d like to be featured–and bring some nice publicity to your program–please contact me)

Next week, I’ll have some good stuff for you: our monthly Articles of Note, where we look at what’s recently published in the peer-reviewed literature; and a new clinical guide on, well, I’m not giving it away just yet. Let’s say for those of you doing DV/IPV clinical work in particular, this one should pique your interest.

I’m happy to report I’m heading to Colorado tomorrow for a week of decompression. I’ll still be working, of course (although I’m taking a couple days off), but I will be at altitude, surrounded by mountains in the high country, which chills me out like nothing else can. Hope you’ll be finding a similar source of serenity yourselves–MW, I’m talking to you, my friend.

Enjoy your weekend!

Upcoming Trainings

I know this is a site dedicated to online education and resources, but I just want to take a minute to point out a few talks I’m giving at some of the upcoming fall conferences that might be of interest. The biggie for me is the IAFN Annual Scientific Assembly, October 21-24 in Atlanta. I’m doing 2 sessions there: Using Today’s Technologies to Deliver Clinical Education: A Guide for Technophobes will be on Friday, October 23rd. That session will examine the variety of opportunities to participate in and create clinical education and should be a great opportunity to hear from participants about what’s being done around the world. And the one I’m even more excited about, the full-day leadership workshop (technically called NSVRC Leadership, though I’m not sure why), is on October 24th.

Screening for Sexual Violence

The Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape has a tutorial available for download on screening for sexual violence in the healthcare setting. This is a topic near and dear to my heart, and probably one we don’t talk about enough. You can download both the implementation guide (PDF) and the contents of the CD-ROM on which the tutorial was originally produced (warning: big file in zip form), free of charge. In addition to the tutorial, there’s a related publication, Put Down the Chart, Pick up the Questions (PDF), which also focuses on screening for sexual violence in the healthcare setting (I saw a similar tool in Illinois from their state health department).

Cultural Competency & Disaster Response

The Department of Health & Human Services’ Office of Minority Health has a new curriculum available: Cultural Competency for Disaster Preparedness & Crisis Response. The curriculum consists of 4 courses that “are designed to equip disaster and crisis volunteers and personnel with the awareness, knowledge, and skills needed to provide culturally and linguistically appropriate services to diverse communities during all phases of disaster. The curriculum is grounded in the Office of Minority Health’s CLAS Standards, which are grouped into three themes: Culturally Competent Care, Language Access Services, and Organizational Supports.”

Evidence-Based Medicine, Pt. II

Time once again for another installment of evidence-based medicine. The issue gets brought up in emails to me from time to time, and recently I’ve had a spate of them. So here’s another tutorial for your learning pleasure– this time, from the University of North Carolina and Duke University.

I think this issue is an important one, because as I’ve expressed many a time, one of the most critical questions you should be able to answer as a clinician is “Why?”. “Because that’s the way I was taught” or “That’s how we’ve always done it” probably isn’t going to cut it.

Guest Post: Evaluating SANE Trainers

I’m pleased to welcome Jennifer Pierce Weeks to Forensic Healthcare Online. As a clinician, administrator, national trainer and President of IAFN, she is another one of those folks who spends a lot of time talking with people in the field, and has a great perspective on healthcare-focused, patient-centered, sustainable programming.

We’ve been talking a lot lately about the issue of quality in SANE/SAFE education. There are no mandated qualifications for who provides the education, so caveat emptor is the rule of the day. IAFN does not police training, but provides education guidelines that describe the minimum body of knowledge all SANEs/SAFEs should possess (there are also training standards for sexual assault forensic examiners (PDF) around the National Protocol). Needless to say, some of the education out there is definitely better than others.

My New Gig

So about that announcement of mine…

I have been teaching and consulting for prosecutors for many years now. It’s really one of the parts of my professional life I enjoy most. So I am beyond grateful to be able to announce that today is the 1st day of my new job, as medical advisor for a brand new prosecution institute: Aequitas, the Prosecutor’s Resource on Violence Against Women. Our new website is just about ready to launch (we’re only about a month old, now); for a few more days you may still get the “under construction” notice. I will continue to oversee the National SANE Sustainability Technical Assistance project, as well–essentially splitting my time between those two gigs. You can check the updated About for all the details.

Bioterrorism & Emerging Disease Preparedness

Rutgers College of Nursing has 8 online courses on bioterrorism and emerging disease preparedness. They all carry contact hours and range from $10-$70 depending on the number of hours you earn (looks like it’s roughly $10 per CE, give or take a few bucks).

Weekly Wrap-Up @ the Sustainability Blog

Thunderstorms here in the CLE and nothing but rain in this weekend’s forecast. Perfect weather for staying inside and putting together a new clinical guide for this site (hopefully to be released early next week). In the meantime, check out some of the previous ones here and here (this one remains the site’s most visited page). And head over to the Sustainability site for a couple goodies, as well:

• Networking for Good’s archived info on storytelling as an online fundraising technique
• A plug for the leadership and program management workshop we’re doing this year at the IAFN Annual Assembly (space is limited to 45, so register soon)
• A new Coordinator Q&A with Cindy Jennings from Dayton, OH that I’m sure you’ll enjoy.

Enjoy your weekend, everyone!