Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 22(5) August 1998 : 598-603

This paper discusses the outcome evaluation of a pilot intervention regarding an emergency department five-step protocol of care for abused women. It is part of an overall study that aims to develop, implement, and evaluate the effectiveness of an intervention to improve the response of emergency department health care professionals to women injured by their partners (see Spinola et al, 1998, for the formative and process evaluation of the pilot intervention). The intervention aimed to increase the identification of abuse by hospital emergency department staff and improve the acute management of abused women. Data was collected from two public hospital emergency departments in Auckland. One of the hospitals underwent a community intervention trial which involved the training of staff in two areas: identifying women who had experienced partner abuse; and the acute management of abused women. The two hospitals were compared at baseline and following the implementation of the intervention. It was found that the community intervention resulted in a moderate increase for both confirmed cases of abuse and acute management offered to women identified as abused. The findings lend support to a call for recommendations for protocols of care, and increased training of health care professionals working in this area. Record #3346

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