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Western Australian emergency department presentations related to child maltreatment and intentional injury: Population level study utilising linked health and child protection data
Author(s) -
O'Donnell Melissa,
Nassar Natasha,
Jacoby Peter,
Stanley Fiona
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
journal of paediatrics and child health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.631
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1440-1754
pISSN - 1034-4810
DOI - 10.1111/j.1440-1754.2011.02189.x
Subject(s) - medicine , emergency department , occupational safety and health , injury prevention , poison control , child protection , suicide prevention , population , medical emergency , retrospective cohort study , pediatrics , family medicine , psychiatry , environmental health , nursing , pathology
Aim: The aim of this study is to determine the proportion of child maltreatment‐related emergency department (ED) presentations in Western Australia (WA) and describe the type of injuries associated with them. It is also to investigate the proportion of maltreatment‐related ED presentations resulting in hospitalisation, the proportion referred to the Department for Child Protection and their outcomes. Methods: This is a retrospective cohort study of all children aged 0–17 years residing in WA from 2001 to 2005 who had an ED presentation recorded in the ED Data Collection. This study used de‐identified administrative data linked across the Departments of Health and Child Protection. Results: Only 0.03% of ED presentations were identified as maltreatment related and 0.2% for all intentional injury presentations. One in five children with maltreatment‐related ED presentations was admitted to hospital and a similar proportion had a notification to Department for Child Protection and 87% of these subsequently substantiated. Conclusions: This study showed that there are limitations with ED data for child maltreatment surveillance in WA and raises concerns that there may be missed opportunities for identifying maltreatment and for referring families for further assessment and support. Recommendations are provided to improve maltreatment surveillance and ED data, particularly for the identification of external causes of injury.