Detection of the awareness rate of abuse in pediatric patients admitted to emergency medicine department with injury

Selen Acehan; Akkan Avci; Muge Gulen; Mustafa Sencer Segmen; Haldun Akoglu; Nalan Kozaci; Ferhat Icme; Salim Satar

doi:10.1016/j.tjem.2016.06.001

Selen Acehan¹, Akkan Avci², Muge Gulen², Mustafa Sencer Segmen³, Haldun Akoglu⁴, Nalan Kozaci⁵, Ferhat Icme⁶, Salim Satar²

¹Mersin State Hospital, Emergency Medicine Service, Mersin, Turkey
²Adana Numune Training and Research Hospital, Department of Emergency Medicine, Adana, Turkey
³Necip Fazil State Hospital, Emergency Medicine Service, Kahramanmaras, Turkey
⁴Marmara University, Pendik Training and Research Hospital, Department of Emergency Medicine, Istanbul, Turkey
⁵Antalya Training and Research Hospital, Department of Emergency Medicine, Antalya, Turkey
⁶Ataturk Training and Research Hospital, Department of Emergency Medicine, Ankara, Turkey

Keywords: Neglect; Abuse; Pediatric

Abstract

Objective: It was aimed to investigate whether neglected and abused pediatric patients are properly recognized and reported by emergency physicians in the emergency department (ED).

Methods: This prospective study was conducted on patients between 0 and 6 years of age presenting with trauma to ED. Patients were examined again by an emergency medicine specialist independent from the physician who did the first intervention during clinical follow-up phase after notification of patients presenting with trauma to emergency physician. Asked radiological examinations and clinical follow-up were performed. The suspected abuse evaluation form, consisting 12 items, which was formed by considering the forms used in previous studies was used to examine the awareness of physicians in cases of abuse suspicion.

Results: A total of 126 patients were included in our study. 54% of cases (n = 68) were male and mean age was determined to be 31.3 ± 18.9 months. It was found that no judicial records were written to 35.7% (n = 45) of our patients and that 11.1% (n = 5) of these patients were hospitalized. In 51.1% (n = 23) of patients without judicial records, multiple suspected abuse findings were identified. According to evaluation of first physician, it was found that 75.9% (n = 41) of discharged patients had no judicial records and was not considered as neglect and abuse.

Conclusion: We conclude that detection rates of abuse can be increased by developing child abuse screening forms and ensuring the continuity of the necessary training programs.