Determining Effectiveness of Nurses in Recognising Signs of Child Physical Abuse in UK’s Hospital Settings

Abstract

The protection of children from physical abuse bears multiple dynamics among which the role of nurses in recognising the warning signs is one of them. Since identification of child abuse signs is the first stage in providing the appropriate treatment to the child who has been subjected to physical abuse, the current research focuses entirely on the nurses’ effectiveness in recognising the signs of child abuse. In order to narrow down the scope of the research, only the physical abuse has been considered. In this study, the relevant literature was reviewed to evaluate the effectiveness of nurses in recognising the signs of child physical abuse. In order to gain both traditional and recent view on the effectiveness of nurses in recognising signs of child physical abuse, the literature identified was published before and after 2000. However, only 12 articles were found directly relevant to the research question and aim of this study.

In pursuing the aim of the current study, the literature search overwhelmingly suggested that the lack of education and awareness among primary healthcare professionals and public health nurses proved as the barriers of accurate recognition of various forms of child abuse including child physical abuse. Within the United Kingdom, the NICE guidelines have been developed with a mandate to enhance awareness among healthcare professionals about the identification signs of child abuse. It is important that the nurses develop the ability and awareness to identify any signs of child abuse before referring them to physical treatment within emergency care settings. Their recognition of child abuse in past or present can prove vital for the effective intervention and preventing the child abuse to happen again. According to NICE guidelines, the nurses in the UK are required to develop an effective communication with both the children and their parents for ensuring that the children receive the quality caregiving at the hospitals. Through their effective communication, they are required to develop trust between them and the children as well as their parents which would be helpful to know the history of any form of abuse if the child had faced in the past.

This review presents findings after critical evaluation and synthesis of findings in the selected articles. Given the low rate of nurses identifying signs of child abuse, it has been implicated that the nurses should be trained to enhance their ability to recognise child physical abuse. It has also been found that the poor recognition of child abuse was caused by the inefficient collaboration among the nurses and the healthcare professionals. Also, the lack of knowledge significantly contributed to poor detection and recognition of children with non-accidental burns. This suggests that the ability of nurses to recognise and differentiate between abusive and non-abusive injuries remain lower owing to their insufficient knowledge and awareness about child physical abuse. The nurses’ knowledge is evaluated by their awareness of recognising the signs that can enable them to understand the differences between abusive and non-abusive injuries suffered by the children seeking emergency care.

Since nurses provide the emergency case to the children with physical abuse injuries, they are expected to play the role of mediators between the institution, children, and their family. Through an effective collaboration between a nurse and a child’s parents, the caregiving quality can be enhanced by recognising the signs of any kind of abuse if the child has faced recently or in the past. With their adequate training, it is possible to improve their ability to recognise the signs of child physical abuse. It was found that their ability to recognise young children with mental health issues including abuse improved significantly after attending this training programme. Thi