The Nurses Role on Child Maltreatment in the Emergency Department : A Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

Child maltreatment is defined as physical abuse, emotional abuse, neglect, sexual abuse and trafficking. This thesis focuses on the different obstacles emergency room nurses face with maltreatment in children and infants. Reporting child maltreatment in early stages can prevent lifelong mental health issues, physical complications or even death. The study aims to provide awareness on the nurse’s role of assessing the signs and symptoms of maltreatment in children and infants as well as how to address suspected maltreatment in the Emergency department. This research also reveals challenges and support needs nurses face when identifying and reporting child/infant maltreatment.

This qualitative systematic literature review was conducted thoroughly by selecting peer reviewed articles using a scientific database EBSCO. The articles in this study were analyzed by systematically using colour coding to identify patterns and similarities. The theory in this study was Margaret a. Newmans’s theory health as expanding consciousness.

This thesis contains four (4) themes and fifteen (15) subthemes. The two (2) research questions in this thesis were answered by eleven (11) systematically analyzed articles. This research provides insight on signs and symptoms of child maltreatment as well as risk factors for abuse such as age and gender. The most reported signs and symptoms of maltreatment by nurses are bruising, fractures, or burns. This study also reveals gaps in the identification process of maltreatment and what tools can be used to assess maltreatment such as Sputovamo-R2 or R3.