COLUMBUS – Ohio’s largest children’s hospitals are leading an effort to recognize signs of child abuse in the state’s youngest children with a program that trains medical personnel to look for “sentinel injuries,” which signal that an infant may be abused.
Although one in 10 Ohio children seen for child abuse has been seen previously with a sentinel injury, fewer than one-third receive the necessary physical examination and follow-up, according to a joint press release from the office of the Ohio Attorney General and the Ohio Children’s Hospitals Association.
Eight large pediatric practices across Ohio, representing more than 30,000 patients and families and recruited through a partnership with the Ohio Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, will be joining children’s and community hospitals to try to identify potential signs of abuse.
The Timely Recognition of Abusive Injuries, or TRAIN, Collaborative – funded with a $1 million grant from the office of Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine in 2015 – was aimed at preventing repeat child abuse in infants six months and younger.
The collaborative identified the “sentinel injuries” that should send up red flags for pediatricians, minor injuries that should prompt concern that the child is being abused but which are often overlooked by physicians.
A “bundle of care” process was developed under which a medical provider who discovers a sentinel injury uses the “bundle” — which includes a skeletal survey of the infant, psychosocial assessment of the parents or other caregivers and pediatric consultation — to identify abuse and make sure the child receives follow-up care.
The members of the association, including Nationwide Children’s Hospital, created and tested the “bundle” within their own hospitals and then shared it with 19 community hospitals across the state.
The latest phase of the project will teach eight large pediatric practices about the “bundle” and help them implement it.