Ask Yourself: How Do You Identify Patient Abuse?
As a health care facility, BWH is responsible not only for assessing and reporting suspected instances of domestic abuse, but also for identifying, treating, and protecting patients who may be victims of elderly, disabled and/or child abuse. Massachusetts State Law has defined what constitutes abuse and neglect and the responsibility of health care professionals to report suspected instances to the appropriate mandated protection agency. All employees should be aware of the state laws and hospital policy related to domestic, elderly, disabled, and child abuse/neglect.
Elder abuse is prevalent throughout the US, with approximately one million known cases occurring annually. The older adult who can no longer live independently may be vulnerable to mistreatment in the form of physical assault, psychological or emotional abuse, sexual abuse, financial manipulation, or neglect. The most likely perpetrators of abuse are persons in continual contact with the dependent individual, such as family members, spouses, significant others or professional caregivers.
A disabled person is a person between the ages of 18-59 who is either mentally retarded or mentally and/or physically disabled. As a result of his/her mental or physical disability, the person is wholly or partially dependent on others for daily needs.
A child is any person under the age of 18. Annually, over one million children in the US are severely abused. Thousands of these children die as a result of injuries sustained, while untold millions suffer less severe forms of abuse/neglect. Forms of child abuse/neglect include physical or emotional injury that causes harm or substantial risk of harm to the child, such as sexual abuse, neglect, malnutrition, physical dependence upon an addictive drug at birth or even death of a child.
In an effort to educate employees that have direct patient contact on the forms of abuse, BWH—in connection with Passageway—has developed an abuse-training module. This training module has been incorporated into hospital orientation and is required training for all staff that have direct patient contact. Any health care provider who has knowledge of or suspects abuse/neglect of the elderly, disabled or children or suspects domestic violence or sexual abuse, should refer these suspicions to a hospital social worker in Care Coordination for further assessment. Please call the social worker assigned to your service, or call the Care Coordination Department at ext. 6469. After hours, call the page operator for the social worker on call.