TY - JOUR
T1 - The effectiveness of an abuse assessment protocol in public health prenatal clinics
AU - Wiist, William H.
AU - McFarlane, Judith
PY - 1999/8
Y1 - 1999/8
N2 - Objectives. This study evaluated whether incorporation of an abuse assessment protocol into the routine procedures of the prenatal clinics of a large urban public health department led to increased referral for and assessment, identification, and documentation of abuse. Methods. Evaluation was conducted at 3 matched prenatal clinics serving a total of 12 000 maternity patients per year. Two clinics used the abuse protocol and 1 did not. An adult was performed at the clinics on a randomly selected sample of 540 maternity patients charts for the 15 months before the protocol was initiated and of 540 records for the 15 months after the protocol was introduced. Ninety-six percent of the patients represented in the sample were Latina. Results. At the clinics using the protocol, abuse assessment increased from 0 to 88%. Detection of abuse increased from 0.8% to 7%. There were no changes at the comparison clinic. Conclusions. Incorporation of an abuse assessment protocol into the routine procedures of public health department prenatal clinics increases the assessment, identification, and documentation of and referral for abuse among pregnant women. An abuse protocol should be a routine part of maternity care.
AB - Objectives. This study evaluated whether incorporation of an abuse assessment protocol into the routine procedures of the prenatal clinics of a large urban public health department led to increased referral for and assessment, identification, and documentation of abuse. Methods. Evaluation was conducted at 3 matched prenatal clinics serving a total of 12 000 maternity patients per year. Two clinics used the abuse protocol and 1 did not. An adult was performed at the clinics on a randomly selected sample of 540 maternity patients charts for the 15 months before the protocol was initiated and of 540 records for the 15 months after the protocol was introduced. Ninety-six percent of the patients represented in the sample were Latina. Results. At the clinics using the protocol, abuse assessment increased from 0 to 88%. Detection of abuse increased from 0.8% to 7%. There were no changes at the comparison clinic. Conclusions. Incorporation of an abuse assessment protocol into the routine procedures of public health department prenatal clinics increases the assessment, identification, and documentation of and referral for abuse among pregnant women. An abuse protocol should be a routine part of maternity care.
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U2 - 10.2105/AJPH.89.8.1217
DO - 10.2105/AJPH.89.8.1217
M3 - Article
C2 - 10432909
AN - SCOPUS:0032794173
SN - 0090-0036
VL - 89
SP - 1217
EP - 1221
JO - American journal of public health
JF - American journal of public health
IS - 8
ER -