Academy of Forensic Nursing - Bell Work Talks

In this Bell Work Talk, Dr. Debby Herbenick will discuss recent research focused on strangulation during sex among a group of college-age students. She will discuss the role of pornography, social media influence, prevalence, and health consequences.

Dr. Debby Herbenick is an internationally recognized sexual and reproductive health professor, researcher, and educator. For more than 20 years, she has dedicated her efforts to understanding how people experience their bodies and sexual lives. Dr. Herbenick is the Principal Investigator of the National Survey of Sexual Health and Behavior (NSSHB), an ongoing U.S. nationally representative probability survey of Americans’ sexual life that began in 2008 and recently completed its 8th wave of data collection.

Resources:

https://www.debbyherbenick.com/

https://publichealth.indiana.edu/research/faculty-directory/profile.html?user=debby

(Explicit Content Warning)

In this Bell Work Talk, Dr. Annette Cannon discusses her role as an elected coroner in her community. Dr. Cannon shares how her vast experiences as a nurse prepared her for the role of coroner and what a day in the life of a coroner looks like.

Natalie Evenson has a background in Trauma, Emergency, and Critical Care. She has been a SANE nurse since 2005 and is currently the SANE Program Coordinator at St. Michael Medical Center in Silverdale, Washington. Natalie recorded this podcast to increase awareness of the various roles available to nurses within forensic nursing.

Resources:

American Board of Medicolegal Death Investigators

https://abmdi.org/

Academy of Forensic Nursing Death Investigation SIG Group

https://www.goafn.org/sig

In this Bell Work Talk, Dr. Stern will discuss that animal abuse is commonly encountered and there is a well-known link between violence against animals and other types of interpersonal violence including domestic violence, elder abuse, and child abuse. This podcast gives a brief overview of how the veterinary forensic sciences are used to investigate these crimes against animals.

Dr. Adam Stern is a Professor of Forensic Pathology at the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine and runs the UF Veterinary Forensic Sciences Laboratory. He is a board-certificated Veterinary Pathologist and is an American College of Veterinary Pathologists Founding Fellow in Veterinary Forensic Pathology. He specializes in the forensic death investigation of animals and the performance of forensic autopsies on animals. He is heavily involved in the professional develop of animal forensic sciences and is currently the Director of the International Society of Animal Forensic Sciences and co-leads a large animal cruelty task force in Florida.

In this Bell Work Talk, Dr. Clements discusses what happens to the families of people who go missing and are never found. How can anyone manage to “carry on”, when they have no idea what has happened to their child? When your child has disappeared and you are not even sure if they are just missing, somewhere alone and suffering, or already dead, how do you cope? As heartless as it may seem, life and the lives of others must go on -- for the good of both individuals and families. Everyone involved will find that there is no such thing as “normal”. life as they once knew it has changed forever. However, it is possible to place this nightmare of loss into ones life trajectory, and reinvest in a productive life, whether you choose to never stop looking, keep up hope, or ultimately accept that your child will never return.

Paul Thomas Clements is a Board Certified Advanced Forensic Nurse, a Certified Gang Specialist, and Certified in Danger Assessment. Practicing in the forensic nursing arena for over 30 years, Clements has provided consultation for hospital systems, EMTs, Child Protective Agency personnel, trauma/emergency nurses, psychiatric providers, academic and corporate settings – each regarding vulnerability risk assessment, target-hardening, and decreasing the number of violent incidents in the workplace, as well as bullying and the subsequent sequelae. Clements has provided consultation to public school systems and other child-related agencies related to child abuse assessment and also related to the aftermath of violence and/or violent death (including homicide of a child and gang-related deaths) for teachers and other classmates. Clements has three upcoming textbooks: Gender Violence Across the Spectrum: A Trauma-Informed Approach, Mental Health Issues in Child Maltreatment: A New Perspective, and Violence Against Women: Contemporary Examination of Domestic Violence. Additionally, he has numerous peer-reviewed publications, and a significant number of conference presentations – nationally and internationally – that address assessment and intervention related to the neurobiology of trauma, interpersonal violence and aggression, coping after a violent death, safety assessment, and exposure to interpersonal violence and crime. His work in the field of grief and bereavement spans over thirty years, including being co-director of the homicide bereavement center at the Medical Examiner’s Officer at the City of Philadelphia’s Department of Public Health, which then expanded to provide free grief services to all families of sudden traumatic death in the City. Dr. Clements was a grief therapist in private practice as well as a Critical Incident Stress Debriefer during the 9/11 tragedy. Dr. Clements has worked closely with a wide variety of cultures, both in the United States and internationally. Clements works as a Professor at the Center of Excellence in Forensic Nursing at Texas A&M University.

Resources:

National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (2024). Is your child missing? https://www.missingkids.org/gethelpnow/isyourchildmissing

Download this checklist of actions to be taken by families in the initial stages of a missing child.

https://www.missingkids.org/content/dam/missingkids/pdfs/publications/nc198.pdf

For questions call the NCMEC at 1-800-THE-LOST® (1-800-843-5678).

National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention:

A Child Is Missing: Providing Support for Families of Missing Children

Available from: https://www.missingkids.org/content/dam/missingkids/pdfs/publications/nc172.pdf

Office of Juvenile Justice and Juvenile Delinquency Prevention:

OJJDP Report: When Your Child Is Missing: A Family Survival Guide

Personal and Family Considerations. https://ojjdp.ojp.gov/sites/g/files/xyckuh176/files/pubs/childismissing/ch7.html#:~:text=Keep%20the%20lines%20of%20communication,wedge%20into%20your%20family%20life.

In this Bell Work Talk, Hillary Benanzer, data analyst at TAT, will discuss the realities of human trafficking; the role of key industries and agencies in the anti-human trafficking movement; and how individuals can fight this crime as professionals and as community members.

Benanzer completed her master’s degree in criminal justice at the University of Cincinnati, with a concentration in law enforcement and crime prevention. At the University of Cincinnati, she contributed research efforts to the field of human trafficking and published research on county-level correlates of human trafficking arrest levels in the state. In her role as data analyst for TAT, Benanzer collects, analyzes and disseminates relevant data to enhance TAT’s training materials and facilitate systems change. Along with educating on the realities of human trafficking, she works to navigate development and collaboration with colleagues to implement TAT's vision across the nation.

Resources:

TAT Training Library

https://tatnonprofit.org/training-library/

Community Resources:

https://tatnonprofit.org/community-resources/

TAT App:

http://bit.ly/TATApp

In this Bell Work Talk, Dr. Bhattarai discusses the impacts of mindfulness practices on forensic nurses. This podcast offers a range of practical tools that forensic nurses can incorporate into their daily clinical practices and personal lives.

Dr. Bhattarai is a tenure-track Assistant Professor of Nursing at Texas A&M University. She has an academic background in nursing, psychology, and rehabilitation counseling. With expertise in mental health, mindfulness, and well-being research in people with chronic illnesses and disabilities, Dr. Bhattarai has expanded her research focus to the crucial intersection of mindful self-care and the unique needs of forensic nurses. As she delved deeper into her research and engaged with various populations, it became increasingly evident that forensic nurses could greatly benefit from mindfulness-based self-care. She recently led a comprehensive narrative review exploring the potential benefits of mindfulness among forensic nurses. Her paper provided a diverse array of practical mindfulness tools for forensic nurses. She is dedicated to designing mindfulness-based self-care strategies and integrating mindfulness practices within forensic nursing education.

Resources:

Bhattarai, M., Clements, P. T., & Downing, N. R. (2023). Mindfulness-based self-care for forensic nurses: A professional lifestyle approach. Journal of Forensic Nursing. Advanced Online Publication. https://doi.org/10.1097/JFN.0000000000000456

In this Bell Work Talk, Dr. Francine Bono-Neri, who is the Co-founder and President of Nurses United Against Human Trafficking, will discuss the vital work of this professional association and how the need is dire to get Anti-Human Trafficking Training into not only state mandated continuing education, but its incorporation into prelicensure nursing education. She will discuss the massive intersection of human trafficking with healthcare and how we, as healthcare professionals, are failing this population.

Dr. Francine Bono-Neri, a proud member of the nursing profession for 32 years, is a pediatric nurse practitioner, academic nurse educator, trained sexual assault nurse examiner, researcher, published author, invited speaker, health policy advocate, and nurse leader. She served as a Director-at-Large for the American Nurses Association for the State of New York, and as President for the Long Island Chapter of the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners. Dr. Bono-Neri is the recipient of the prestigious Jane Eleanor Knox N.E.F. National Scholarship, and was awarded a Nassau County Legislature Citation for her extraordinary efforts in serving her former hometown community. Dr. Bono-Neri is the Co-founder and President of Nurses United Against Human Trafficking, P.A., a professional association created for the sole purpose of abolishing modern-day slavery by educating, equipping, and empowering healthcare professionals on anti-trafficking measures.

Resources:

www.nuaht.org

www.nursesunitedagainsthumantrafficking.org

Nursing students' knowledge of and exposure to human trafficking

content in undergraduate curricula - ScienceDirect https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0260691723002149?via%3Dihub

Recently Established Scholarships (n-e-f.org) https://n-e-f.org/about-us/recently-established-scholarships.html

In this Bell Work Talk, Dr. Clements and Ms. Varto will discuss that it is important to continually educate forensic nurses with evolving forensic nursing science, as forensic nursing now approaches being a formally established specialty for 30 years (American Nurses Association recognized Forensic Nursing as a specialty in 1995), it is additionally incumbent for our members to educate others, both interprofessionally and intraprofessionally. As the unique base of forensic nursing science continues to expand, it is critically important for our professional members to share that information to enhance nursing care to both victims and offenders across all settings – not just those settings that may be specifically or directly considered to be “forensic” in nature. This podcast provides several case examples of how forensic nursing knowledge was shared with other healthcare professionals, both intra and inter professionally, in order to heighten awareness toward enhanced and targeted assessment and intervention for patients in healthcare scenarios that may not have necessarily been considered to be acutely forensic, yet, certainly could have medico-legal implications.

Paul Thomas Clements is a forensic psychiatric clinical specialist, a Certified Gang Specialist, and Certified in Danger Assessment. Practicing in the forensic nursing arena for over 30 years, Clements has provided consultation for hospital systems, EMTs, Child Protective Agency personnel, trauma/emergency nurses, psychiatric providers, academic and corporate settings – each regarding vulnerability risk assessment, target-hardening, and decreasing the number of violent incidents in the workplace, as well as bullying and the subsequent sequelae. Clements has provided consultation to public school systems and other child-related agencies related to child abuse assessment, and also related to the aftermath of violence and/or violent death (including homicide of a child and gang-related deaths) for teachers and other classmates. Clements has three upcoming edited textbooks: Gender Violence Across the Spectrum: A Trauma-Informed Approach, Mental Health Issues in Child Maltreatment: A New Perspective, and Violence Against Women: Contemporary Examination of Domestic Violence. Additionally, he has numerous peer-review publications, and a significant number of conference presentations – nationally and internationally – that address assessment and intervention related to the neurobiology of trauma, interpersonal violence and aggression, coping after a violent death, safety assessment, and exposure to interpersonal violence and crime.

Nurse Practitioner Hannah Varto works in and led the development of Canada’s only outpatient, rapid access specialty clinic providing medical-forensic care to survivors of recent violence. She is an instructor for the local post-secondary forensic health sciences department and a co-investigator in a number of research studies specific to brain injury from head impacts and strangulation in survivors of recent violence.

In this Bell Work Talk, Dr. Neville and Julia Bonfim discuss the emergent public health threat regarding the infiltration of the adulterant xylazine in illicit drugs. A brief overview of the opioid epidemic worsened by fentanyl will be discussed and the impact of the adulterant xylazine will be presented. The historical development of xylazine use, identification of potential xylazine use and implications for nursing practice will be presented.

Kathleen Neville is associate dean for graduate studies and research at Seton Hall University College of Nursing in Nutley, New Jersey, and principal investigator of two Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) grants, the Seton Hall University and Hackensack School of Medicine Expanded Interprofessional Medication-Assistant Treatment Training Program. This grant is designed to train medical, nurse practitioner and physician assistant students to provide medication assisted treatment to individuals with opioid use disorders.

Julia Bonfim is the project coordinator overseeing the grant to train nurse practitioners and physician assistant students at Seton Hall University and Monmouth University in West Long Branch, New Jersey, and medical students at the Hackensack School of Medicine in Nutley, New Jersey, to treat individuals with opioid use disorders.

Resources:

Manuscript: Infiltration of xylazine in illicit fentanyl, By Kathleen Neville, PhD, RN, FAAN and Julia Bonfim, MPA, published in American Nurse Journal. 2023; 18(11). Doi: 10.51256/ANJ112340, © 2023 HealthCom Media. All rights reserved. Link to manuscript: https://www.myamericannurse.com/infiltration-of-xylazine-in-illicit-fentanyl/

In this Bell Work Talk, Pam Marcus discusses a comprehensive assessment of an individual who is potentially violent, using the Brøset Violent Checklist as well as interventions that can reduce this dangerous behavior.

Ms. Marcus is an Advanced Practice Nurse Psychotherapist in Private Practice in Upper Marlboro, Maryland. She provides psychotherapy to individuals and families experiencing a variety of diagnoses, such as Anxiety Disorders, PTSD, Personality Disorders, Gender Dysphoria, Substance Use Disorder and Affect Disorders.

Resources:

Please contact Kathy Bell at [email protected] if you would like the list of resources.