Sandra Scott, MD¹, Tommeka Thibodeaux, MD², Yu-Feng Chan, MD³, Ronald Low, MD³, and Hosseinali Shahidi, MD⁴. (1) Department of Emergency Medicine, SUNY Downstate Medical Center, 450 Clarkson Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11205, 646-515-0700, srscottmd@msn.com, (2) Division of Emergency Medicine/Department of Surgery, UMDNJ New Jersey Medical School, 150 Bergen Street, Room M-219, Newark, NJ 07101, (3) Division of Emergency Medicine/ Department of Surgery, UMDNJ New Jersey Medical School, 150 Bergen Street, Room M219, Newark, NJ 07103, (4) Division of Emergency Medicine/Department of Surgery, UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School, 150 Bergen Street PO Box 1709, UH Room M219, Newark, NJ 07103

Objective: To assess prevalence of DV in our ED. Methods: This prospective, observational study was conducted from Nov 2000 to Nov 2001 in an urban ED. Exclusion criteria were age less than 12 years, altered mental status, prisoner, or inability to complete the survey in private. A 6-question survey was given by a physician or medical student to a convenience sample. SAS9 was used to compute statistics: comparison of counts was done with chi-squared tests, age distributions were compared with a Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. Results: 680 patients were sampled (74% female, 1% not defined). 18% of respondents reported threat or actual assault within one year prior to interview, defined as recent DV (RDV). 19% of females and 15% of males were RDV patients. Age distributions varied (p=.0021): RDV patients had bimodal peaks in the early 20s and late 40s; other patients were normally distributed around 42+16 years old. During the interview, 49/122 (40%) of RDV patients felt safe in current relationships compared to 503/552 (91%) of others. Conclusions: Physicians and medical students in an urban ED identified RDV using a simple survey. The age distribution of RDV patients included a peak in the early 20s, not seen in the control sample. Males sampled were as likely to report recent DV as females.

Learning Objectives:

• To discuss need for DV screening by Emergency Physicians
• To describe the demographics of DV victims in an urban Emergency Department
• To analyze the responses of male DV victims to the survey

Keywords: Domestic Violence, Violence Prevention

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
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.