Exploring Emergency Healthcare for Women Experiencing Intimate Partner Violence With Comorbid Psychological Distress.
Shannon Dhollande, Diksha Sapkota, Silke Meyer and 2 others
PMID 40235127WHAT IT FOUND
Safety planning was absent in 36 of 43 emergency presentations where intimate partner violence and mental health concerns were documented, and only 17 presentations recorded referral to an external violence support service.
Key findings
01Safety planning was absent in 36 of 43 documented emergency presentations of women with current intimate partner violence.
02Referral to an external intimate partner violence support service was documented in 17 presentations, and referral to a hospital social worker in 23 presentations.
03An emergency examination authority was used in 21 of 26 ambulance transfers, but the documented assessments largely did not substantiate the legal requirements.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The sample was small: 32 patients and 43 presentations from one regional Australian emergency department, so the pattern may not apply to other settings. It was a retrospective chart review, so undocumented care may have occurred and the results reflect record keeping rather than actual delivery of care. Only charts where current intimate partner violence was already identifiable were included, so women whose violence was missed were not represented. The jurisdiction had no routine intimate partner violence screening, so identification depended on terms clinicians happened to document. The emergency examination authority finding is limited to paramedic and emergency notes and was not an assessment of legal or ethical appropriateness.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest. The study was funded by the University of the Sunshine Coast.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the 36 missing safety plans as proof that no patient received safety support. This was a retrospective chart review, so care that happened but was not documented would not appear, and the sample only included charts where intimate partner violence was already identifiable.