Integration of the Nurse Practitioner Into Your Child Abuse Team.
Child maltreatment is a leading cause of childhood morbidity in the United States, often leading to lifelong adverse health consequences. Currently, there is a nationwide shortage of child abuse pediatricians (CAPs), resulting in many unfilled child abuse positions throughout the United States. In addition, the number of future CAPs currently in fellowship training will meet neither the current need for CAPs nor provide replacements for the senior CAPs who will be retiring in the next 5 to 10 years. Although it is recognized that pediatric nurse practitioners (PNPs) play an important role in the care of maltreated children, there are few available data on the impact of the PNP as an integral member of the child abuse team. Using the outcomes logic model, we present a systematic process through which the PNP can be effectively integrated into a medical child abuse team. The outcomes from this process show that the addition of PNPs to the child abuse team not only provides immediate relief to the nationwide CAP shortage but also significantly augments the diverse clinical skills and expertise available to the child abuse team.
['Herold|Beth|B|', 'St Claire|Karen|K|', 'Snider|Scott|S|', 'Narayan|Aditee|A|']
D002648:Child D002649:Child Abuse D006801:Humans D009722:Nurse Practitioners D010348:Patient Care Team D014481:United States
nurse practitioner child maltreatment Child abuse pediatrician outcomes logic model