NCJ Number
228571
Journal
Child Abuse and Neglect Volume: 33 Issue: 8 Dated: August 2009 Pages: 481-489
Date Published
August 2009
Length
9 pages
Annotation
This study examined the changes in a physical abuse diagnosis provided to child protective services (CPS) when CPS consulted a child abuse pediatrics (CAP) specialty group for a second opinion.
Abstract
Results of the study indicate that in many cases of possible child physical abuse, non-child abuse pediatrics (CAP) providers did not provide child protective services (CPS) with a diagnosis regarding abuse despite initiating the abuse investigation or being consulted by CPS for an abuse evaluation. CPS consultation with a CAP specialty group as a second opinion, along with continued information exchange and team collaboration, frequently resulted in a different diagnosis regarding abuse. It was suggested that non-CAP providers may not have time, resources, or expertise to provide CPS with appropriate abuse evaluations in all cases. Many CPS investigations involving alleged child physical abuse involve medical evaluations and resulting diagnoses regarding abuse. A major function of the CAP subspecialty is to provide CPS with information regarding the diagnosis of physical abuse in children with suspicious injuries. This study hypothesized that the diagnoses regarding abuse provided to CPS by non-CAP physicians would differ significantly form those provided by CAP physicians working in concert with CPS, and that non-CAP physicians would offer no information to CPS regarding the diagnosis of abuse. Information for the study was abstracted from a local database involving all patients referred by CPS to a CAP subspecialty group from November 2006 to June 2007. Study inclusion criteria were children between the ages of 0 and 18, referral to CPS for suspected physical abuse, an initial assessment for abuse by another physician without specialized training in CAP (non-CAP physician), and a second assessment by the CAP team. Tables and references