Early case conferences shorten length of stay in children admitted to hospital with suspected child abuse.
OBJECTIVE
To compare the outcomes of two models for the management of children admitted to hospital with suspected child abuse: routine early case conferencing versus standard evaluation.


METHODS
Between March 2001 and February 2002 professionals from the Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria Police and Child Protection services collaborated on a randomized controlled study involving children admitted to hospital with suspected child abuse. The intervention group (n = 13) received a case conference within 24 h of the child's admission to hospital. The control group (n = 12) were managed according to standard procedures whereby each organization conducted their own evaluation (and a case conference might or might not have been held). Patients were followed for 3 months with data collected from all three professional groups.


RESULTS
The process of evaluation, the eventual diagnosis of child abuse and the confidence with which professionals made this diagnosis was not significantly different between the groups. Case conferences were judged to be useful regardless of their timing. Mean length of stay in the intervention group was significantly less than in controls (42.4 h vs 99.7 h, P = 0.01).


CONCLUSIONS
Early case conferences appear to shorten the period of time children spend in hospital when child abuse is suspected. This has significant implications for reducing costs for all organizations involved in the evaluation of suspected child abuse.
Smith
J Anne S
JA
Gatehouse Centre for the Assessment and Treatment of Child Abuse, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. anne.smith@rch.org.au
Efron
Daryl
D
D000293:Adolescent; D001315:Australia; D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy; D002675:Child, Preschool; D017579:Domestic Violence; D005195:Family Relations; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007902:Length of Stay; D008297:Male; D005791:Patient Care / Q000379:methods; D012944:Social Support; D013997:Time Factors