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What's in a name? named doctor in child protection—interpretation and implementation of the role
Author(s) -
Polnay Janet C.,
Curnock David A.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
child abuse review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.569
H-Index - 41
eISSN - 1099-0852
pISSN - 0952-9136
DOI - 10.1002/car.816
Subject(s) - child protection , audit , accident and emergency , interpretation (philosophy) , service (business) , quality (philosophy) , psychology , child abuse , nursing , medical emergency , medicine , medical education , suicide prevention , poison control , business , computer science , philosophy , epistemology , marketing , programming language , accounting
Child protection issues are reported in the media with uncomfortable regularity, highlighting that all paediatricians need to be competent in dealing with cases of child abuse. The named doctor in child protection was introduced to improve this, but implementation of the role has varied widely. This paper describes how the role of the named doctor in child protection has been put into practice in Nottingham City Hospital and discusses some of the challenges that can arise. The importance of training and audit in maintaining the quality of service for the trust is emphasized and developments for the future and important avenues for research are suggested. We have shown that with three designated sessions in a large district general hospital (without an accident and emergency department), the named doctor can combine with the named nurse to increase the awareness and effectiveness of child protection in all parts of the hospital. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.