EP.23: Forensic Training Associate (FTA)

TW: This week we are discussing FTA and their work, which involves the topics of Sexual Violence and Sexual Assault, and will come up in conversation during this episode. Please take care of yourself and mental welling being, if this topic is not comfortable for you, catch you next episode!

“Like Bones or NCIS?” - Not quite, but possibly just as exciting. This week we talk with Guest Julia Klavans a GTA & Forensic Training Associate (aka a FTA) who is on the cutting edge of this new Simulated Patient Field and at the forefront of developing standardized curriculum for SA Nurse Examiners and Advocates. Today we’ll learn a little more about her, what her work as an FTA entails, and while this new genre of SP is something we should have everywhere.

Julia Klavans (she/hers) is a Genitourinary Teaching Associate, Forensic Teaching Associate, Physical Exam Teaching Associate and Standardized Patient based in Southern California and the Washington DC Metro region. She has been active in the clinical skills field since 2015, when she first became a Standardized Patient as an extension of her work as a professional actor. Recently, Julia pioneered the first in-house training program for Forensic Teaching Associates at DC Forensic Nurse Examiners. Julia has presented her research at the International Association of Forensic Examiners and the Association for Standardized Patient Educators. Julia currently serves as Education Specialist in Clinical Skills at UC Irvine, and she is the founder of Best in Practice LLC, a company with the mission of providing custom-built, patient-centered training in forensic nursing and gynecological care. In her other life, Julia is an actor, dancer, singer, dramaturg, and intimacy choreographer.

Instagram | @juliaklavans