Journal
PEDIATRIC EMERGENCY CARE
Volume 27, Issue 10, Pages 937-940Publisher
LIPPINCOTT WILLIAMS & WILKINS
DOI: 10.1097/PEC.0b013e3182307ae5
Keywords
child abuse; medical knowledge; residents; pediatricians
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Objective: The objective of the study was to evaluate residents' and practicing physicians' medical knowledge of child abuse and maltreatment. Methods: In a freestanding pediatric hospital and community hospital, a 30-question survey was administered to pediatric residents, general pediatricians (GPs), and pediatric emergency medicine (PEM) physicians. The institution's child protection team developed the questions, which were pilot tested for validity. Question content covered major concepts in child abuse and neglect. Information on previous training of child abuse was also collected. Results: There were 95 respondents, 64.2% (n = 61) were residents, 19% (n = 18) were GPs, and 16.8% (n = 16) were PEM physicians. Overall, the average score was 63.3% (SD, 13.8%). There was a statistically significant difference in the knowledge of child abuse and neglect across physician categories (P < 0.001). Pediatric emergency medicine physicians scored the highest (76.9 [SD, 9.1]) compared with GPs (66.7 [SD, 12.4]; P = 0.018) and pediatric residents (60.4 [SD, 12.9]; P < 0.001). There was no difference in the level of knowledge across residency training years (P = 0.076). Conclusions: With a mean score in our study of 63.3%, there appears to be an overall lack of knowledge in child abuse. These findings highlight the need for increased education in child maltreatment.
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