Child Abuse

Child Abuse PEDIAT-919

Welcome to Pediatric Child Abuse!

We are so happy that you are choosing to learn more about the Pediatric Child Abuse elective!

During your time with us, you should learn to:

  1. Recognize, diagnose and treat cases of child maltreatment.
  2. Recognize medical evidence that should create reasonable suspicion of child abuse.
  3. Become familiar with mandatory reporting requirements and how to make a report to Child Protective Services and Law Enforcement.
  4. Understand what special history, examination, laboratory, and imaging information should be collected in cases of suspected child maltreatment.
  5. Develop skills to thoroughly document the results of an examination by using written notes, drawings, and forensic photography.
  6. Learn appropriate communication skills when dealing with high stress medical situations.



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Course Director
Kelly McGregory, DO, FAAP

Division Coordinator

Sarah Airozo

People to Know

  1. Kelly McGregory, DO, FAAP – Course Director
  2. Jess Babal, MD – Interim Division Chief
  3. Mandy Jackson, MD – Pediatrician
  4. Amanda Palm, PA-C, LCSW – Physician Assistant
  5. Jessica Wipperfurth, Program Director, MSW, APSW– Social Work
  6. Mary Mansker, MSW, APSW – Social Work
  7. Sarah Airozo – Administrative Assistant

Expectations

Learners will attend Child Protection Program inpatient and outpatient consults, ER consults, and burn unit consults. Learners will also attend Case Conferences with CPP team and Forensic Interviews with Safe Harbor Child Advocacy Center. Learners will prepare a 10-15-minute presentation on 1-2 Journal Articles of interest related to child abuse and neglect. Learners will be contacted approximately 2 weeks prior to their scheduled elective to finalize their schedule. Given the unpredictable nature of our service, this schedule is subject to change. Consults may occur on weekends and outside typical clinic hours of 9-5 pm. Learners work hour restrictions will be considered.

Educational Opportunities

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1. You will primarily work with the provider who is on-call for the day. You will also work with our amazing social worker, Jessica Wipperfurth. If you have any last-minute changes to your availability, please contact the provider of the day. If you have trouble reaching the provider, you can also contact Erin or Dr. McGregory for help if needed. 

2. Some patients are planned/scheduled and others require immediate consultation. Our schedules may change minute-to-minute. We will keep you updated as much as possible.

3. Please plan to function primarily as an observer during patient/family interactions with the team. Given the unique nature of our service, we have found it helpful for learners to get a sense of how our program works.  We will ask you to assist with interviews by taking notes and observing parent/child interaction. You will also assist with the physical exam (including receiving instructions on the proper technique and performance of pediatric genital examinations), and possibly assist with other tasks such as communicating with other hospitals or community professionals. Of note, given the high potential of future court involvement with our cases, independent patient interaction will not be allowed. Expect that someone will be present with you while you are with patients because we need to be able to clearly document whatever is said and done during our patient evaluations. 

4. There are times when our team may have responsibilities outside of the hospital. This may include participation in community meetings or committees, attending forensic interviews of our patients, giving presentations on child abuse locally, or giving phone/in-person court testimony. If we are able to bring learners to these commitments, we will extend an invitation to you. 

5. Given the unpredictability of our schedules each day, there may be downtime where we must tend to daily tasks and/or medical documentation. Please feel free to utilize this time to work on relevant work such as reading journal articles, viewing online webinars and lectures, etc. There are areas in the hospital with computers that residents/students can use. Please ask if you are not familiar with these places. You may also bring your personal laptop. (The child protection program will not be responsible for items lost or stolen).

6. If you are interested in a certain area of child abuse, please let us know. We can try to tailor your experience to ensure you get experiences that match your interest. We also have additional readings/articles on many topics that you may find interesting. Please let us know.

7. During your rotation, we attempt to provide education. Please see your Learner’s checklist. At a minimum, it is helpful to review general lectures on child abuse as well as the lecture on genital examinations/variations of hymen findings.

8. Please keep Dr. McGregory or Sarah Airozo updated on your rotation requirements. If there is paperwork or evaluations that need to be completed, please let us know ahead of time so we can ensure these get completed in a timely manner.

Educational Resources

  1. You will be provided with a link to our UW Box page, which has additional elective information and readings.

Feedback

  1. You will be provided a rotation checklist to be completed by the end of your rotation. This is stored on the UW Box page.