Protecting severely abused and neglected children: an unkept promise

Article Abstract:

Although physicians are legally required to report cases of suspected child abuse or neglect to state social service agencies, their role is essentially limited to this initial step. They are not able to assess the effects of their efforts on behalf of the children, and may often convince themselves that their lot has been improved by medical intervention. In fact, this is not often the case. The situation of most families of severely abused children (as many as 10 percent of the more than two million cases reported in 1987) is deplorable: more than two thirds are desperately poor, headed by a single mother, and include a parent with a serious psychiatric disorder. Eighty-one percent had a history of four reports of abuse or neglect during the preceding three years. Protective-service agencies are not able to do their jobs in the face of woefully inadequate funding for a problem that has more than doubled in recent years. In Massachusetts, a child reported as abused at the age of two goes to court for the first time at the age of four. A final judgment is not typically reached for several years, during which period the child lives in a foster home. Thirty-nine percent of the 340,000 children in foster homes spend more than two years in these allegedly temporary quarters. Children who are to be adopted are not likely to find homes quickly, and may wait several more years. At the same time, pressures to return the child to its biological parent create a situation where the child shuttles from foster home to court to birth home, and back again. It is no wonder that so many become delinquents. No systematic clinical research has been carried out to evaluate the effects of these disruptive influences. No one knows how to determine what is best for abused children. No one knows what elements in individual cases predict success, or failure, within the system. Physicians should not believe that they have solved a problem when they refer children to social service agencies. In fact, they can act as advocates, and can ask to be involved in the child's treatment. It is possible that such efforts could help the thousands of defenseless victims who spend their childhoods moving from one miserable, dysfunctional environment to another. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Psychological aspects, Health aspects, Laws, regulations and rules, Child abuse, Abused children, Pediatrics

---

Communicating with patients who cannot read

Article Abstract:

Physicians need to ensure that patients can understand all written material they receive. About one-fourth of the US population is estimated to be functionally illiterate and even among literate Americans, the average reading level is 8th grade or less. Many will hide the fact that they cannot read well. A simple test is to give the patient written material upside down to see if they turn it right side up. Information about drugs may be especially important to convey and several professional organizations provide patient education material written at the 5th grade level or lower.

Methods, Testing, Patient education, Functional literacy

---

The effect of bedside case presentations on patients' perceptions of their medical care

Article Abstract:

Many patients may prefer bedside case presentations. A case presentation is the time that physicians and medical students spend going over a particular patient's case. Many physicians do it in a conference room rather than at the bedside. However, a study of 182 patients found that the 95 who had a beside case presentation were more likely to have a favorable opinion of the care they received compared to the 87 whose case was discussed in a conference room. However, bedside presentations should include non-technical language and a chance for patients to participate.

Care and treatment, Hospital patients

Similar abstracts:

• Abstracts: Parental attitudes and knowledge of child safety: a national survey. part 2 Brain injuries among infants, children, adolescents and young adults
• Abstracts: A controlled study of the effect of therapies aimed at adolescent and family psychopathology in anorexia nervosa
• Abstracts: Pneumococcal vaccine: efficacy and associated cost savings. Emergence of antimicrobial-resistant serotype 19A streptococcus pneumoniae - Massachusetts, 2001-2006
• Abstracts: New opportunistic infections - more opportunities. Prevention and treatment of pneumocystis pneumonia

This website is not affiliated with document authors or copyright owners. This page is provided for informational purposes only. Unintentional errors are possible.