Emergency Room Role in Domestic Violence

Domestic violence is a serious and frequent problem in today_s society that is not normally discussed. Because of the lack of discussion of domestic violence, the number of individuals who are victims of domestic violence may not be identified as victims. Severe physical abuse in a domestic violence situation can cause individuals to seek medical attention from an emergency room. However, if they are not identified as victims or asked the proper questions about their situations, they return to their abusive situations. The purpose of this research study was to discover how effectively emergency room employees identified and served victims of domestic violence. Also, the research showed how a survivor of domestic violence felt she was treated in the emergency room and ways she wished it would have been different. Two face-to-face interviews were conducted in order to look at the information from the view of a nurse in an emergency room and a survivor of domestic violence who sought medical attention multiple times in an emergency room. The views from the nurse and the survivor differed, in that the nurse felt that the way her emergency room identified and served victims was effective, but the survivor saw more areas emergency rooms could improve. However, they both recognized the prevalence emergency rooms can have in victims lives if identified and served properly. The information gathered through this research study showed the researchers how emergency rooms can be improved to identify and properly serve more victims of domestic violence