You never know what you might encounter during a work day as a Radiographer. There are many delicate situations in this field. One of those is performing an x –ray on a child who shows signs of suspected abuse. Radiographers can be a child’s first hope of rescue from an abusive parent or guardian. They can spot suspicious signs of child abuse or confirm acts of abuse on these small patients, and hopefully handle each case accordingly.
As a Radiographer, you never know when your normal work day will be affected by a cause much greater than expected. What may initially seem like a routine x-ray may turn in to an unsuspected case of child abuse. These signs should never go unnoticed or dismissed. For example, skin lesions or bruises are the
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It is also important to determine the age of a bruise by its color. “A bruise that is red in color indicates recent trauma to that area, while a purple, green or brown bruise indicates that it is an older bruise”. Of course, fractures can be a sign of child abuse, but they can also be accidental in nature so a Radiographer has to investigate fractures very closely. “Fractures of child abuse occur most frequently in infants under the age of 3”. The most common fracture that comes from abuse in this age range is rib fractures that occur in the posterior portion. The femur, tibia, and humerus are the most common bones that are usually injured. Some fractures will indicate child abuse more so than others. For example, a spiral fracture entails a twisting force; therefore, it indicates a strong suspicion of child abuse because this motion is not a motion normally seen in the torso area without unusual force. However, physical signs such as lesions and bruises are not the only indication of child abuse. Even if the child shows no signs of physical abuse, they may show signs of emotional abuse. If a child is …show more content…
There are several modalities that can be used to determine if a child has been abused. There are Radiographic Imaging, Computed Tomography, and Magnetic Resonance Imaging. All three of these modalities have different capabilities and depending on the injury of the child, it will determine which modality you would use. If a child of 2 years and younger is suspected to have an injury due to abuse then the Radiographer would use Radiographic imaging and take images of the entire body. Radiographers will take multiple images called a skeletal survey to determine child abuse. A skeletal survey includes more than 20 images. “The ACR (The American College of Radiology) uses these guidelines for a skeletal survey; they must include the thorax, ribs, upper lumbar spine, pelvis, cervical spine, lumbar spine, Humerus, Forearms, hands, Femora, lower legs, and feet. Computed Tomography has over powered the conventional x-rays because of its many advantages”. CT gives 3D images of the injury which would show a rib fracture clearer. Head trauma is the most dangerous form of child abuse and causes that most deaths in children. Head trauma can also cause permanent neurologic damage. Retinal hemorrhage and subdural hemorrhage are thought to be caused by abusive head trauma. Children with head trauma are more likely to have dilated eyes and seizures which will cause an unstable mental status.
The abuser may have been cautious and a child may have several to no physical effects on their body. However other times, a child may have several signs and symptoms including bruises, welts or swelling. They may also have fractures or sprains, burns, lacerations, abrasions, difficulty walking or standing and torn, stained or bloody clothing. They may also have pain or itching in the genital area and bruises or bleeding in the external genital area. Children
The first signs I would look for are physical signs, such as; bruises, burns, scars and unexplained marks, bite marks for example. Injuries such as bruises are not necessarily an immediate sign of child abuse, however depending on the place in which the bruises were found and the shape and age of them, they could be a sign. For example in protected areas of the body such as inner thighs and the
When assessing an infant or child for suspected child abuse Frist, the nurse needs to listen and observe, look the child's appearance, watch the behavior and interaction of the adults who accompanied the patient. Listen to the information provided while taking a history and looking for any signs or symptoms.
It can be very difficult to recognise signs of abuse in a child or young person. They are some signs, which could alert staff to the fact that the child or young person might be being abused at home, for example constant bruising, or having unusual injuries for the child or young person. This may have an affect on their
The non-accidental injuries are like, black bruising on the eyes (particularly both eyes). Cheek/side of face, is not easy to bruising especially if there are finger marks this shows a sign. If the child’s mouth has got Tom frenulum which means that the carrier has been forcing something into their mouth like a baby bottle. Shoulders should not have bruising or grasp marks, neither the child’s genitals. Knees are quiet hard to get grasp marks. The skull is very strong so there shouldn’t be any fracture to it, if there is bruising or bleeding under skull this is from shaking the child. The ears should not have any pinch, slap marks or bruising. If the neck has bruising or even grasp marks that is not good. Upper and inner arms bruising or grasp marks shows that the child has been grabbed really hardly. Also the chest should not have any bruising or grasp marks. The back, buttocks, thighs there
The child can seem to be on alert, as if waiting for something bad to happen. Shies away from touch, seems reluctant to go home, flinches at sudden movement. The injuries a child has, appear as a pattern such as marks from a hand or belt.
There are variety of factors which would lead to suspicion of child abuse or maltreatment such as physical indicators, Some physical indicators which would lead to suspicion of abuse and maltreatment of a child are Unexplained injuries such as the explanation which the carer or the child is giving about the injury may not match or add up , Bruising is another physical indicator which may have been causes by a child being punched, grabbed , being hit or beaten up ; Some children may have finger marks on them which may have been caused by a child being manhandled in a violent way , or a child being shaken . Soreness is also a physical indicator which can lead to suspicion of abuse , soreness around a Childs genitals or soreness around the anal which is caused by sexual abuse , Infections are another physical indicator infections such as genital infections like
Once the child is stabilized and all the immediate needs are meet, the end result is usually not very good for the child. The child is most often times left with debilitating conditions that require round the clock care. Long-term morbidity in pediatric abusive head trauma patients is high. Neurological symptoms are usually the most common and can result in psychomotor retardation. Vision impairments related to the retinal hemorrhages can lead to many complicated vision problems (Ceballos, 2009). In the more subtle abusive head trauma cases, patients may present to their primary care physician with head circumference growth measurements that cross percentiles. In these cases chronic subdural hematoma and obstructive hydrocephalus must be considered. The infant may suffer cortical blindness, generalized hypertonia, have swallowing issues and require a feeding tube (Gordy & Kuns, 2013). Speech, occupational, and physical therapies will be needed to work with the child. The caregivers should be educated and instructed on the proper care of the child. The child may require partial or
In the cases of inflicted brain trauma, abuse can sometimes be difficult to diagnose because the baby may not have any external marks, other than bruises on chest and extremities from where the infant was held (Lyden, 2011). Researchers say that retinal hemorrhages in infant’s eyes should be considered as signs of abuse until proven otherwise, although they acknowledge that retinal bleeding in infants can be caused by other conditions, those conditions can be ruled out through history, physical exam, and labs (Lyden, 2011).
The two main ways which you can spot signs of maltreatment is physically and via the child's behaviour. Indicators of maltreatment which would be physical on the children would be constant bruising on their skin, if you see one bruise you can’t automatically assume there is maltreatment going on within their family home as all children at a young age have bruises every now and then from falling over, however if you are constantly seeing bruises that aren’t going and instead getting worse, that can be a indicator of maltreatment. That ties in with any unexplained injuries that may be spotted on the child at any given time. If you happen to see the child has an injury which is considered as unexplained as it may not be a normal everyday injury, that can indicate maltreatment within the child's family home. Soreness in places which shouldn’t be sore can be a big indicator of maltreatment occurring within the family home. If the child seems underweight or may not be the average size for a child of their age can be an indicator of maltreatment within the family home, whereby they aren’t being fed the right amount of food or are going hungry at home from being ignored. With the child having poor personal hygiene, it can be an indicator of maltreatment happening within the family home where they aren’t getting treated how they should be and may have to fend for themselves and at the age they are at they don’t really understand what they
The most obvious effect of child abuse is physical injury to the child. According to the Child Welfare Information Gateway, a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, physical injuries can be minor, such as bruises, or severe, such as broken bones or even death, but the pain and suffering leaves much deeper emotional scars. Sometimes, abuse can lead to lasting or recurring health problems, such as shaken baby syndrome
Radiology, the process of working and viewing inside the human body without breaking the skin. By using radiant energy, which may take the form of x rays or other types of radiation, we are able to diagnose and treat many diseases and injuries. Both diagnostic and therapeutic radiology involve
Child abuse consists of different types of harmful acts directed toward children. In physical abuse, children are slapped, hit, kicked or pushed, or have objects thrown at them causing wounds, broken bones, or other injuries. Severe abuse may result in major injury, permanent physical or developmental damage, or even death. Emotional abuse involves humiliation, dishonoring or other acts carried out over time that terrorize or frighten the child. Sexual abuse consists of a wide
Globalization which is defined as the process which breaks down the barrier of geography, legality and politics among countries (Scholte, 2002, cited in Baburajan, 2011) has become a fashionable term of recent decades. It enables people worldwide to experience the unprecedented changes in various aspects of their life, varying from study to entertainment. This immediate prevalence of globalization plays an increasingly vital role in higher education and creates opportunities for people to continue taking advanced studies (Altbach, 2004). Altbach (2004) points out that it is inevitable that globalization will have some effects on higher education due to the rapid development of economy, technology as well as science. In order to survive
Physical abuse is the most common form that can be identified this usually involves the child being beaten by hand or objects, the child being thrown, the child being inflicted with bone breaking acts of violence for the parent's pleasure. Most common reasons that people physically abuse children is because of Unwanted responsibility, such as, when a person has child young or was not ready for child, the abuser had improper role models growing, such as, maybe their parents abused them and they think that okay because that's how they were treated as a child, social isolation could be another reason if they don't have the discipline of a child who was not abused the abuser, much like the improper role models, will this is an okay thing to do. Now you're probably looking for signs of abuse. Common signs could be unexplained injury or injuries in places that would not be caused easily by a simple fall or scrape like bruising on the stomach, neck, and upper back; not wanting to go home always not wanting to go home or showing signs of anxiety, nausea, and physical symptoms to going home could be a problem especially if the thought makes child physically sick, drastic changes in weight a child could become