Wednesday, July 21, 1999
ER questions uncover abuse
Hospitals now asking every woman
BY SUSAN VELA
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Whether they are suffering from a fever or massive head injuries, all women entering the emergency rooms of St. Luke and St. Elizabeth hospitals in Northern Kentucky are being asked if they are in an abusive relationship.
The goal behind the questions is to provide women who would normally slip through the cracks with information on where they can seek help for domestic violence.
Nationwide, studies show that 22 percent to 35 percent of all women seeking emergency room treatment are there because their husband or boyfriend has abused them.
“Before, there were indicators that would make us suspicious — their stories didn't fit the injury, or their injuries themselves,” said Gary Blank, a nurse manager at St. Elizabeth, which has facilities in Covington and Edgewood. “We decided ... this year to just come out and ask and screen openly about abuse and violence.
“What we try to do is say, "This isn't normal and it certainly isn't your fault.'”
There have been two motivating factors behind the increased vigilance on domestic violence in Northern Kentucky, said Mary Jo Davis, executive director at the Covington-based Women's Crisis Center.
One, the 1996 Kentucky General Assembly made it mandatory for health professionals in emergency rooms to receive three hours of domestic vio lence training. Two, the national hospital accreditation board is encouraging hospitals to screen all women coming through their emergency rooms. The Women's Crisis Center provided training to the hospitals this spring and dispatches volunteers to the emergency rooms whenever the women acknowledge that they are in a domestic violence situation.
Domestic violence training, including how to screen women for domestic violence, is mandatory in Ohio, but it's up to the hospitals to decide whether to screen all women or just those who seem like they may have been assaulted.
In Hamilton County, only University Hospital screens all women, said Linda Hutson, a university registered nurse who helped start the program there about six years ago.
Ms. Davis noted that in the training sessions for St. Luke and St. Elizabeth, some registered nurses resisted the idea of having to ask every woman, even if she was just suffering from a high fever or a sprained ankle, whether she was in a domestic violence situation.
Then a St. Elizabeth nurse reported that she tried asking a woman who had arrived at the emergency room for strep throat. The nurse asked the question and the woman responded in the positive.
She revealed that she had tried leaving an abusive boyfriend weeks ago and had lost about 20 pounds in about two weeks because of the stress. She normally would have left the emergency room without anybody knowing about the abuse or helping her contact available resources.
“We wouldn't have picked up on that before we started screening every woman,” Mr. Blank agreed.
Since then, some nurses have changed their minds about the need to ask the question and have become more comfortable in doing so. They say women generally have been thankful that the question was asked, which has helped the nurses get past some of their anxieties.
Also, many of the women have confessed to past abusive relationships and said that they wished the practice had been in place a long time ago, some of the nurses said.
“People receive (the question) very well,” said Terri Vietor, a registered nurse at St. Elizabeth. “They're more surprised than upset.”
“It's certainly heightening awareness,” said Pat Seiter, clinical coordinator for St. Luke's emergency department. “It's an awareness that there are people and agencies available to them. If we don't do anything else other than that, we've done a lot.”
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