James Metz, M.D., associate professor of pediatrics and director of the UVM Children’s Hospital’s Child Safe Program, spoke with WVNY-TV about the hospital’s new 74-page guide that health care providers can use to identify signs of child abuse and neglect. The guide, available on the UVM website, will be frequently updated to reflect best practices.
“It’s not like we have new science,” said Metz. “It’s an evolution of our understanding of the science and the understanding we have of the toxic effect abuse and neglect has on individual children, and the global effect it has on families.”
The guide, which is mainly intended for pediatric doctors, nurses, and social workers who work directly within the child welfare system, addresses such topics as identification bias, mandatory reporting, and child trafficking. The majority of the guide, however, covers specific injuries including fractures, bruises, and burns, and details methods of determining if those injuries might be intentional—in other words, signs of abuse. The guide also covers malnutrition, a possible indication of neglect.