Screening for Intimate Partner Violence in the Emergency Department?

Intimate partner violence poses a substantial healthcare risk, with approximately 30% of women in developed countries reporting exposure at some time during their lives. To assess the effect of a brief (3–7 minutes) emergency department (ED)-based intimate partner violence intervention (screening as well as education and risk assessment), investigators randomized 399 women who presented to a single urban ED in New Zealand to receive either usual care or the intervention.

At 3-month follow-up, 12.8% of women overall reported intimate partner violence, and the proportion did not differ significantly between the usual-care group (13.6%) and the intervention group (12.0%).