Disproportionate impact of abortion restriction: Implications for emergency department clinicians.

Individuals experiencing intimate partner violence (IPV) and/or human trafficking (HT) are at increased risk of severe health consequences as a result of legislation criminalizing and/or restricting abortion, which is expected to increase as a result of the Supreme Court decision Dobbs v. Jackson. These risks are further stratified by race, socioeconomics, and other marginalizing demographic attributes.

Improving the Forensic Documentation of Injuries Through Alternate Light: A Researcher-Practitioner Partnership.

An alternate light source (ALS) is a practitioner-driven technology that can potentially improve the documentation of injuries among victims of interpersonal violence. However, evidence-based guidelines are needed to incorporate and document an ALS skin assessment into a forensic medical examination that accurately reflects the science, context of forensic nursing practice, trauma-informed responses, and potential impact on criminal justice stakeholders. This article introduces the forensic nursing community to a current translation-into-practice project focused on developing and evaluating an ALS implementation program to improve the assessment and documentation of bruises among adult patients with a history of interpersonal violence.

Didn't put a label on it: Examining intimate partner strangulation within a diagnostic framework.

Aims: The aim was to examine and describe women's emergency department visits and care-seeking experiences, including recognition, evaluation and communication of symptoms, injuries and health risks after non-fatal intimate partner strangulation.

Design: Using a diagnostic process framework, this mixed-methods study explores concordance and discordance of interview and medical records data to highlight opportunities for clinical diagnostic improvement.

Methods: In-depth, semi-structured interviews with women after an emergency department visit for non-fatal intimate partner strangulation, concurrent with medical records reviews, were conducted between March 2018 and January 2019.

Use of an alternative light source to assess strangulation victims.

Alternative light sources (ALSs) are commonly used at crime scenes and in forensic laboratories to collect evidence such as latent fingerprints, body fluids, hair, and fibers. This article describes the use of this technology to reveal soft tissue injuries that are not visible to the naked or unaided eye in patients who report strangulation. The value of this information to the medical, nursing, and judicial systems is discussed.