Victims of Child Abuse to present to the Emeregency Department

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: To develop the guidelines and the education models for primary agents caring for victims of child abuse, and investigate victims of child abuse visited the department of emergency medicine, College of Medicine, Hallym University, Choon-chun Sacred Heart Hospital. METHODS: Survey assessed the age, sex, visiting time, offender tools of maltreatment, types of maltreatment, and types of injury of 47 victims under 18 years old visited the emergency center, between the Jul. 1996 and the Aug. 1998. The injury severiy of victims of child abuse was compared with control group of 197 general violence victims visited the same emergency center at the same duration. RESULTS: The age distribution was 12.8%(n=6) of the 0-1 year old, 17%(n=8) of the 1-3 years old, 8.5%(n=4) of the 4-6 years old, 12.8%(n=6) of the 7-12 years old, and 48.9%(n=23) of over the 13 years old. The sex distribution was 49%(n=23) of male and 51%(n=24) of female. The most common visiting time was 59.6%(n=28) of the 22-02 o'clock. The types of abuse were 46.6%(n=22) of the physical abuse, 27.7%(n=13) of the neglect, 17%(n=8) of the psychic abuse, and 8.5%(n=4) of the sexual abuse. The offender was 38%(n=18) of the parents, 26%(n=12) of the relatives, 4.3%(n=3) of the grandmothers, and 6.4%(n=3) of the nurses. The severity of injury was applied to the ISS(injury severity score). The severity of injury according to ISS was mean ISS=3.82+/- 2.2 in the case of child abuse and mean ISS=1.86+/-1.6 in the case of general violence(P=0.000). CONCLUSION: Most victims of child abuse still never come to the overt attention of physicians, social workers, or other professionals. Therefore the establishment of CAN(Child abuse and neglect) protocol and the organization of CAN team in the hospital consisted by department of emergency medicine, pediatrics, and psychiatrics is essential. Furthermore, the co-operation system with child welfare facilities and polices in community is needed.