To improve access and quality of care for domestic violence (DV) victims, a 3-phase project was developed to assess needs of providers, develop educational programs, and devise/recommend new institutional practices for effective identification and enhanced coordination among medical, mental and social service systems. In the first phase, providers in NJ emergency departments and county programs were surveyed on the process of identification and documentation of victims, the psychosocial/organizational obstacles they face in providing coordinated care and referring victims to different service systems, and their unmet service and training needs. Eighty -two hospitals agreed to participate (88% RR), and 67 medical directors, 80 nurse managers and 75 social workers were interviewed face-to-face; 18 community providers completed a self-administered instrument (78%RR). Despite all internal arrangements in hospitals, i.e., having written DV policies, referral lists and support of administration, only 38% reported working with their local community DV programs, suggesting a weak link between the sites. Only one-third of physicians and nurses had any DV training. The problematic obstacles to identify victims were patient-related factors and staff’s lack of training, time and knowledge. The barriers to victims’ referrals and problematic agencies were also identified, with physicians consistently reporting more barriers. Education/training needs of providers were assessed and information on barriers due to ethnicity and cultural response to DV and forensic aspects of healthcare were highly reported as need. Based on findings, a series of recommendations for hospitals were developed. Educational interventions will be developed and their impact will be evaluated in next phases.
Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant will be able to: 1. Describe policies and organizational arrangements of NJ hospital emergency departments regarding domestic violence; 2. Describe the process of identification and documentation of DV cases in NJ hospitals; 3. Recognize difficulties and psychosocial/organizational obstacle clinicians face in providing coordinated care and referring victims to different service systems; 4. Develop an understanding of unmet service and training needs of hospital emergency service providers (physicians, nurses and social workers) regarding provision and coordination of care for DV victims
Keywords: Domestic Violence,
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.