Developing a Professionalism and Harassment Policy for Organized Neurosurgery.

Annual conferences, educational courses, and other meetings draw a diverse community of individuals, yet also create a unique environment without the traditional guard rails. Unlike events held at one's home institution, clear rules and jurisdiction have not been universally established. To promote the open exchange of ideas, as well as an environment conducive to professional growth of all participants, the leading neurosurgical professional organizations joined forces to delineate the expectations for anyone who participates in sponsored events. The One Neurosurgery Summit Taskforce on Professionalism and Harassment developed a foundational policy that establishes common expectations for behavior and a unified roadmap for the prompt response to untoward events. We hope that publishing this policy will inspire other medical organizations to establish their own meeting and conference policies. More importantly, we wish to bring greater attention to everyone's responsibility for ensuring a safe and respectful space for education, scientific debate, and networking during organized events.

Sexual harassment in academe is underreported, especially by students in the life and physical sciences.

What factors predict the underreporting of sexual harassment in academe? We used logistic regression and sentiment analysis to examine 2,343 reports of sexual harassment involving members of university communities. Results indicate students were 1.6 times likely to not report their experiences when compared to faculty. Respondents in the life and physical sciences were 1.7 times more likely to not report their experiences when compared to respondents in other disciplines. Men represented 90% of the reported perpetrators of sexual harassment. Analysis of respondents' written accounts show variation of overall sentiment based on discipline, student type, and the type of institution attended, particularly with regard to mental health. Our results suggest that institutional and departmental barriers driven by power asymmetries play a large role in the underreporting sexual harassment among students-especially those in STEM disciplines.

Emergency Medicine in the #MeToo Era.

Sexual harassment is a serious threat to a safe and productive workplace. The emergency department (ED) environment poses unique threats, including stress, time constraints, working in close physical proximity, and frequent personal contacts with staff, colleagues, consultants, and difficult patients. Sexual harassment must be recognized and addressed in individual cases, in policy and in law, to protect staff members and patients. This article addresses the scope of the problem of sexual harassment known to date. It describes the ED environment and culture and why they may be conducive to harassment or abusive behavior. The authors examine relationships among staff, legal and regulatory issues, and strategies for prevention and remediation of inappropriate behavior. The article ends with a call for future research.

El delito contra la libertad sexual en el anciano: una realidad escondida difícil de detectar / Sexual abuse of the elderly: A hidden, difficult to detect, reality

El maltrato a personas mayores es un problema de salud pública; existen diversos tipos de maltrato; el abuso sexual en el anciano es uno de los menos estudiados y comúnmente no se detecta. Este trabajo presenta el caso de una paciente que fue llevada al hospital por la sospecha de que pudiera haber sido víctima de un delito contra la libertad sexual. La paciente se encontraba ingresada en una residencia geriátrica y presentaba una demencia de 10 años de evolución. En el artículo se expone la vulnerabilidad de este tipo de pacientes y las dificultades encontradas para el diagnóstico, y se reflexiona sobre la necesidad de trabajar en la prevención e intervención efectiva desde el ámbito sanitario

Abuse of the elderly is an important public health problem. There are different types of abuse, with sexual abuse being one of the least studied, and usually underdiagnosed. A forensic case-study is presented on a female patient who was taken to the hospital under the suspicion that she had have been a victim of sexual assault. The patient was admitted to a geriatric centre and had been diagnosed with senile dementia type I of 10 years onset. In this article, an analysis is carried out on the vulnerability of this kind of patient, the difficulties in diagnosis, and on the need to work on prevention and effective intervention from a health care perspective

Truth, Voice, and Resiliency.

Reflections from a nurse and survivor on Christine Blasey Ford's recent testimony.