Oral

Public health programs had little study of child maltreatment until this century. Public Health Nursing was an exception perhaps tied to home calls and real life evidence of maltreatment. Some of this is changing. The Centers for Disease Control joined with others to address child abuse: 1) American Academy of Pediatrics to define terms used in child abuse to improve the potential for statistical analysis. 2) the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data Systems to study infant victims and 3) the National Association of Medical Examiners to address investigation of sudden unexpected infant death. Some changes are partial. Documents on STD include more narrative on child sexual abuse but there is little study and some data is withheld. There is little study of HIV and child sexual abuse and less about preteen mothers with the birth father’s age exponentially older. Infant homicide data has been apparently lost to vital statistics has been noted and presented but there is little effort to correct that loss. Awareness of child abuse in public health programs continues. Pediatric literature notes more knowledge and child abuse programs are learning about the potential value of public health data. California is using public health concepts to address hospital reporting and improve detection and case management. ICD codes have been used to help direct this project. Connections are made between child fatality review teams and hospitals. Public health will learn more about fatal and nonfatal severe child injury. This presentation will relate current and pending activity to connect public health professionals and public health practice to the world of child abuse. Child maltreatment will be presented as a legitimate topic for public health.

Session Objectives: 1. Describe the application of the concept of surveillance to child maltreatment programs. 2. list three examples of public health involved with child abuse 3. List three examples of public health practice that may reflect avoiding child maltreatment 4. describe the difference between prevention and intervention. 5. Describe the use of public health concepts in the ICAN California Hospital Network.

CE Credits: Medical (CME), Health Education (CHES), Nursing (CNE), Public Health (CPH)