Survey of practices for documenting evidence of bruises from physical abuse during child protection proceedings.

Accurate recording of forensically important information on bruises is vital in child protection proceedings (Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH)). An online survey was distributed to the RCPCH child protection committees to assess compliance with guidance. 56 individuals were contacted by email, 47 (84%) completed the survey. Results showed that the paediatricians always or usually record size (n=41; 87%), site (n=45; 96%), shape (n=32; 68%) and colour (n=36; 77%); n=10; 22% of the paediatricians stated that they 'always' used a ranking system for likelihood of abuse; n=12; 35% of those surveyed 'sometimes' estimated the size of the bruise. Results showed that paediatric bruise reporting is inconsistent and incomplete for some fields compared with national guidance. © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2023. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.

Citation

Sam Evans, Damian J J Farnell, Andy Carson-Stevens, Alison Kemp. Survey of practices for documenting evidence of bruises from physical abuse during child protection proceedings. BMJ paediatrics open. 2023 Jul;7(1)

Mesh Tags

PMID: 37491132

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