LAKE BUENA VISTA, FLA. – Screening for intimate partner and sexual violence occurs sporadically in trauma centers, typically among women and when there is a suspicious mechanism of injury.
In hopes of reaching a broader population, investigators at the Ryder Trauma Center at the University of Miami conducted a prospective pilot study to determine the feasibility of universal screening for intimate partner and sexual violence in all patients presenting at the level I trauma center.
In all, 399 consecutive patients were eligible, with 40% screened using a four-item questionnaire that asks patients how often their partner physically hurt, insulted, threatened with harm, and screamed at them (HITS) and the SAVE (screen, ask, validate, evaluate) method developed in Florida to screen for sexual violence. Both instruments were available in English, Spanish, and Haitian French.
Over a 4-month period, 14% of patients scored positive for physical and psychological abuse – and even more surprising, 8% scored positive for sexual violence, lead study author Dr. Tanya Zakrison reported at the annual scientific assembly of the Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma (EAST).
“Interestingly, there was no significant difference between men and women. They were all scoring at an equal rate,” Dr. Zakrison said. Patients who scored positive on HITS or SAVE were also found across all ethnicities and all age groups.
“The last thing that was quite surprising for us to find was that only 14% of patients who were HITS positive were actually admitted as a result of intimate partner or interpersonal violence, and none of the patients who scored positive for SAVE were admitted to trauma because of this,” she added. “Again, they’re coming in for the motor vehicle collisions, falls from standing, or other mechanisms of injury.”
To learn more about the intervention and its impact at Ryder Trauma, watch our video interview.
Dr. Zakrison and her coauthors reported no relevant financial conflicts.