How Healthcare Workers Can Help Recognize and Stop Abuse
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It’s estimated that almost 20 people are physically abused by an intimate partner each minute in the United States. More than 3.6 million referrals are made to Child Protective Services annually, involving over 6.6 million children. As a healthcare worker, you care for the physical, mental, and emotional well-being of your patients. You have the critical role of advocating for them when they don’t have a voice. However, if you don’t know what to look for, you might miss subtle signs that can save a life.
For me, this responsibility became all too real on several occasions. I’ve watched children in intensive care units fight for their lives after being hurt by family members or friends. I’ve watched as victims lied to protect their abusers — and in one case when a victim took their last breath after the abuse just went too far. In these moments, you wonder what you could have done differently. You question if the system failed or if we haven’t educated professionals enough to recognize abuse.
While no healthcare worker wants to discuss these horrific cases, they are real. Without authentic conversations, we will continue to care for patients who waited too long. Or those who never trusted anyone enough to share the details of their health, as well as victims who were never identified as being at risk for abuse. Here are the essentials you need to know about identifying abuse and how you can be part of the solution:
Identifying Abuse
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Have you ever walked out of an exam room perplexed by the signs you observed, the symptoms the patient described, and the story they told? There are a number of types of abuse that could be happening. Here are a few things you should look for if you suspect a patient is being abused.
Signs of Abuse During Care
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A patient might exhibit symptoms that don’t go together or have unexplained bruises and injuries. Victims of domestic violence or other types of physical abuse will often try to cover up what’s happening. They might fear the abuser will retaliate or feel ashamed that they are a victim. Not only should you consider abuse as a factor, but it’s best practice to ask questions of all patients that might identify abuse, human trafficking, and neglect. A few questions you can use to get the conversation started include:
- How are things going at home?
- Are you having any problems with your partner?
- What kinds of experience with abuse have you had in your life?
If you struggle with starting the conversation, try one of these ways to frame the question:
- “Many of my patients are dealing with abusive relationships. Some are afraid to start the discussion, so I’ve been discussing it with everyone I examine.”
- “I have past experience with patients who have been abused that’s making me concerned that someone might be hurting you. Is that happening?”
Know the Misconceptions
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Abuse doesn’t discriminate. It happens in homes in every income bracket, all races, and areas of your community. We often believe that there is a “typical” abuser and victim profile that patients will fit into, but the truth is that it can happen to anyone. To better understand the misconceptions, you must know what to look for in your patients, as well as how to identify a possible abuser. A few common traits of an abuser include:
- They often struggle with substance abuse
- They might blame their violence on their circumstances
- They may seem like a “nice person” on the outside
- They might view the victim as their property
Remain Sensitive
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Having a thorough understanding of domestic violence, child abuse, and human trafficking can help you remain sensitive when identifying possible victims. It’s critical to remember that a quarter of all adults around the globe were physically abused as a child and that 28 percent of trafficking victims are children. These statistics might make you weak in the knees, but they are the truth. They need to be remembered when you’re working with a patient or family where the stories don’t add up or the symptoms just don’t seem to make sense.
While you might want to judge or label family members, you must try to remain objective and sensitive to the family’s environment, education level, and other social factors that could be creating overwhelming circumstances. If you feel that you are losing sensitivity to a family’s situation or a possible abuser, you might need to request to be taken off the case and allow someone who can remain objective to help the family.
Ways to Stop the Abuse
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Healthcare workers play a vital role in the identification of potential abuse. As victims come forward, they will need support, compassion, and understanding. Even the abuser may need assistance. Here are a few ways every healthcare working can help stop abuse:
Offer Ongoing Care
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It’s critical to know that you can’t singlehandedly fix a victim. However, you can offer support to survivors. When speaking with victims, listen to their stories and validate how they feel. Offer empathy, not merely sympathy.
Whether you are dealing with an adult, child, or the elderly, victims need continued care. They might deny their need for help out of guilt or shame. However, it’s best to set them up with resources before they leave your care. Be sure to know support services in your community, the national abuse hotline numbers, and how to find local battered women and family shelters in your neighborhood. A few resources you need to keep on hand include:
Be Compassionate Towards the Abuser
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If you identify abuse in a patient, the last thing you probably want to do is offer compassion and understanding to the person that hurt them. However, we know that getting help for the abuser might not only save the victim but also stop the violence in families for generations to come.
If the abuser struggles with alcohol or drug addiction, they might need healthcare for recovery as well as abusive tendencies. They might also need help learning new ways to deal with stress, anxiety, and social situations. The resources above all offer assistance to the abusers so you can access support for the abuser there too.
Looking Towards the Future
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As a healthcare employee, you are charged with protecting those who come into your care. This might mean that you need to change your practices to consider the possibility of abuse with each patient or better understand the misconceptions of abuse. By using this guide, you’ll be ready to recognize and stop abuse.
