Hospital emergency departments lack policy and strategies for spotting child neglect or abuse

In a survey of emergency department staff across Europe, only about half said their hospitals had policies in place to help staff identify children who were being neglected or abused. .

A study presented at the European Emergency Medicine Congress found that such hospitals policy Likely to use strategies known to be effective in identifying child screening tools and staff training.

The research was published by Ph.D. Féline Hoedeman.When medical student At the Erasmus MC Sophia Children’s Hospital in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. She said, “Abuse and neglect have a devastating effect on children, families and societies, but they can be very difficult to spot. They play an important role in identifying these children.” It’s especially important if you have the right training, tools and resources.”

In collaboration with the Augeo Foundation in the Netherlands, the European Society for Emergency Medicine (EUSEM), the European Pediatric Emergency Medicine Research (REPEM) network, and the European Society for Emergency Nursing (EuSEN), researchers at the Erasmus MC Sofia Children’s Hospital are working with European emergency departments A survey of medical professionals working in. Responses were collected from 148 hospitals in 29 countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania and Malta. It was from the staff of , Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, UK.

Only 51% of respondents hospital There was a standardized child abuse policy. 24% said they do not have such a policy. The remaining 25% didn’t know or said they had a policy.

Those who said they had a policy said their hospital had tools to screen for child abuse (52% versus 2% of hospitals without a policy) and had training to identify abused children (30%). % against 63%). Child Abuse Team (73% vs. 27%) and Child Abuse Policy Officer (51% vs. 20%). However, only 28% of them had a policy stating that their hospital used all four of these strategies.

Researchers caution that responses are from individual experts and are not representative of all hospital staff.

Hoedeman said: In that case, staff are less likely to have the necessary tools and knowledge, and opportunities to help vulnerable children may be missed. “

The researchers plan to develop a toolkit of hospital policies, training and screening tools to help identify neglected and abused children. They have just completed a follow-up study to explore factors that may help or hinder toolkit implementation.

Professor Youri Yordanov, Emergency Department, St Antoine Hospital, APHP Paris, who was not involved in the study, said:can support emergency department Staff to find at-risk children.

“Regulations and legal systems vary across European countries, but the core elements of child abuse hospital policy should always be in place and can be adapted to different hospitals. Recognize child abuse and neglect. and it is something we urgently need to work on.”

Courtesy of the European Association for Emergency Medicine