Appointments Are a Precious Opportunity

The article below is a press release encouraging Ob-Gyn doctors and nurses to screen for domestic violence. Hopefully at your last doctor's appointment, you were asked if you have a partner and if they have ever hurt you. It is recommended that doctors and nurses screen for domestic violence whenever asking routine questions.

I am so pleased that this has become common practice. It is not so many years ago that victims suffered alone in their homes, even after telling family or friends. We now have a name for this type of abuse and it is recognized by such organizations as the AMA and ACOG.

Personal care appointments, whether for medical reasons or for vanity are great opportunities for professionals to engage in a conversation with their clients about domestic violence. We work closely with Evangelical Hospital to provide training for their nurses and with Empire Beauty School to provide training for their stylists. If you have interaction with someone who you suspect is being abused, please take the time to ask them the questions. Is someone hurting you? Do you want help to stop this abuse? Offer them compassion and kindness, but do not force them to do something they are not ready for. Survivors know when they are ready to leave; we have to trust their intuition, just as they do.

TUESDAY, Jan. 24 (HealthDay News) -- Obstetricians and gynecologists should screen all patients for intimate partner violence, including during prenatal visits, according to new recommendations from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

In addition, ob-gyns should offer patients support, and have referral and resource information on hand to give to patients who are victims of abuse.

Intimate partner violence includes physical injury, psychological abuse, sexual assault, progressive isolation, stalking, deprivation, intimidation and reproductive coercion. The goal of these behaviors is to establish control over a partner.

The violence can occur among both heterosexual and same-sex partners and at every level of society, regardless of age, gender, income levels, race, ethnicity, religion or educational background, according to a news release from the college.

About one in four women has been physically and/or sexually assaulted by a current or former partner, and nearly 324,000 pregnant women are abused by their partners each year in the United States, researchers have found.

Intimate partner violence has been linked to poor pregnancy outcomes, including poor weight gain, infection, fetal injury, preterm delivery, low birth weight and stillbirth.

Signs and symptoms that a woman is experiencing violence include physical injuries, chronic headaches, chronic pelvic pain, irritable bowel syndrome, and recurrent vaginal infections. Violence is often linked to depression, anxiety, substance abuse, unintended pregnancy and suicide.

"Women of all ages experience intimate partner violence, but it is most prevalent among reproductive-age women," Dr. Maureen Phipps, chair of the college's Committee on Health Care for Underserved Women, said in the news release. "We have a prime opportunity to identify and help women who are being abused by incorporating this screening into our routine office visits with each and every patient."

The recommendations are published in the February issue of the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology.

-- Robert Preidt

SOURCE: American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, news release, Jan. 23, 2012