Identification of women exposed to acute physical intimate partner violence in an emergency department setting in Finland

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is seen as a serious health risk factor for women with significant acute and long-term health consequences and it affects women from all ethnic and socioeconomic groups. Knowledge of these consequences of IPV may help emergency department (ED) professionals to identify these women and provide them with appropriate care, including information on a variety of community services, and refer those women to such services if necessary. The study aimed to describe the frequency of ED visits by women exposed to physical intimate partner violence as estimated by ED professionals (nurses, practical nurses, emergency medical technicians) and identification of acute IPV. In this study 'partner' is defined as a woman's husband, former husband, current or former cohabitant or partner. This design was used as part of a larger, descriptive, cross-sectional multi-centre and multi-method study. Data were collected from 28 EDs in 13 Finnish hospital districts. Altogether 488 questionnaires were returned, which yielded a response rate of 51%. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics and quantitative content analysis. Findings showed that 48% (n = 231) of the ED professionals reported that they encountered women in IPV relationships at least once a month. Over one-fifth of the ED professionals reported having repeatedly encountered the same women visiting the ED for IPV related injuries. Over half of the participants reported having problems 'often' or 'now and then' when identifying women exposed to IPV. Those with training on IPV estimated that they had identified women exposed to IPV more often. To conclude, the research suggests that improvement of identification of acute IPV requires that training be arranged and jointly agreed written procedures for handling IPV be introduced.