Improving the Emergency Medical Services System's Response to Domestic Violence.

Response of health professions to domestic violence in emergency departments

which victims of domestic violence turn, placing health professionals in a central role for their assistance (Pahl 1979; Dobash et al. 1985). Some researchers consider that the Emergency Department is the most likely place for domestic violence victims to enter the system (Rounsaville & Weissman 1977; Goldberg & Carey 1982). The reasons are that emergency services offer 24-hour service and rela...

Caring for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault.

'Formulaic' gender-abuse guidelines seldom followed.

The trumpeting by the Health Professions Council (HPCSA) of screening guidelines for emergency care workers handling victims of domestic violence - while welcomed - got a muted response from emergency medicine chiefs in the country's most brutal province last month. The two people heading the Western Cape's clinical protocols and training for emergency medicine and overall emergency medicine se...

The Canadian child welfare system response to exposure to domestic violence investigations.

OBJECTIVE While child welfare policy and legislation reflects that children who are exposed to domestic violence are in need of protection because they are at risk of emotional and physical harm, little is known about the profile of families and children identified to the child welfare system and the system's response. The objective of this study was to examine the child welfare system's respon...

Domestic violence against women: Definitions, epidemiology, risk factors and consequences.

BACKGROUND Domestic violence is considered one of the most common forms of gender-related violence, and various studies estimate that between 10 and 35% of women experience domestic violence at some point in their lives. Nevertheless, it is a frequently neglected problem in crisis intervention centres, emergency wards, and obstetrics and gynaecological emergency rooms. This paper contributes to...