Dive Brief:
- According to a recent study that was published in Pediatrics, many U.S. hospitals may be missing signs of child abuse in infants and toddlers.
- The researchers, who studied practices of more than 300 hospitals nationwide, found that providers were not following American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) guidelines for child abuse screening.
- According to AAP guidelines, any child under the age of two who presents with injuries that could have been caused by physical abuse should be given an x-ray to look for "occult" bone fractures.
Dive Insight:
Although an occult bone fracture does not always require treatment, Dr. Joanne Wood, the study's lead researcher, told US News & World Report that it can help confirm suspicions of abuse. But what the study found was that only about half of babies were being screened according to the guidelines, and there was a huge variation in how the guidelines were being applied. Some hospitals only screened children with a thigh fracture; others didn't conduct screenings at all.
It was unclear from the study why practices varied between hospitals, but in any case, Wood said that hospitals needed to do a better job of screening. "Our study is not the first to show this," she said. "I think we're highlighting a need to standardize care for this vulnerable group of children."