What Do Child Abuse and Neglect Medical Evaluation Consultation Notes Tell Researchers and Clinicians?

Area of Science:

• Pediatrics
• Child Welfare
• Medical Informatics

Background:

• Child abuse and neglect (CAN) medical experts offer specialized care for maltreated children.
• Clinical notes from these experts contain crucial child and family data.
• This data can inform necessary family support services.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and implement a coding system for abstracting data from CAN medical expert notes.
• To assess characteristics and patterns within these clinical notes.
• To explore the utility of this coding system for improving care and detection of child abuse.

Main Methods:

• A coding system was created and implemented for data abstraction from clinical notes.
• Data were collected from 1,397 children (ages 0-17) referred to a CAN medical provider.
• Coding themes were developed via interdisciplinary qualitative analysis; results presented using a developmental-contextual framework.

Main Results:

• A coding system was successfully developed and implemented.
• Descriptive results highlight key characteristics and patterns from CAN medical provider notes.
• The study demonstrates the potential value of this systematic approach.

Conclusions:

• Developing a coding system for CAN medical provider notes is valuable.
• This system can aid in assessing child and family factors and informing support services.
• It holds potential for improving the quality of care, prevention, and detection of child abuse.