Prevalence of Intimate Partner Abuse in Women Treated at Community Hospital Emergency Departments

Abstract
THE IDENTIFICATION and treatment of abused women by emergency department (ED) personnel have received increased attention recently because of the ED's potential role in preventing further abuse. For many abused women, the hospital ED is the first and sometimes the only contact they have with health care clinicians. Furthermore, when abused women are not identified, they are susceptible to increased health problems compared with women who are not abused as measured by more frequent ED visits, additional hospitalizations, and increased use of outpatient health care facilities.1,2