Not all sexual assaults are reported ? and now Hopkins nurses have evidence to prove it.
An emergency department computer-based screen revealed undetected intimate partner violence through survey results, according to a study published this month in Annals of Emergency Medicine.
The self-administered health survey containing domestic violence questions produced dramatic results, Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing nurse researcher Jacquelyn Campbell found. Among those taking the computerized survey, 19 percent were found to have experienced intimate violence, while only 1 percent in the usual care group were detected.
Social work referrals were also higher in the computer-screened group.
On the other hand, even when patients reported risk for violence, 48 percent of the time emergency personnel did not discuss the issue with the patient.
The issue is serious, Campbell said. As much as 43 percent of the women who were killed by a partner had visited the emergency room in the year before.
“These women might have been saved if we had identified them as abused,” Campbell said.
