Authors

Rocío Portaceli López1,2, África Pérez-Reverte Santiago1, Alejandro Campos Pérez1,3

Position

1Enfermera/o. Máster Universitario en Enfermería de Urgencias, Emergencias y Cuidados Especiales. Universidad Católica San Antonio. Guadalupe (Murcia)2Servicio de Urgencias de Atención Primaria de Lorca. Servicio Murciano de Salud3UCI general del Hospital Virgen de las Nieves de Granada

Contact address

Rocío Portaceli López. Gran Vía, 29-bis. 30400 Caravaca de la Cruz (Murcia).

Contact email: rocioporta21@gmail.com

Abstract

Objective: to describe the methods for screening, detecting and diagnosing elder abuse, and assess their potential implementation in the Emergency Unit setting.
Method: a narrative review through bibliographic search in the databases: PubMed, Cochrane Library, Biblioteca Virtual de Salud and ScienDirect. Articles published between 2009 and 2019 were selected, in Spanish and English, with full text available. The review included all those articles dealing with aspects associated with the primary objective of the study.
Results: in total, 286 bibliographic references were reviewed. Eleven (11) manuscripts were selected in total, with different designs. Three methods to detect elder abuse were identified: detecting the risk factors, the most usual clinical signs and suspicion indicators, and the use of questionnaires targeted to the victim and the caregiver. Only three of the screening tools reviewed had been validated specifically for the Emergency setting.
Conclusion: the tools identified in this study can be implemented at the Emergency Unit, addressing its characteristics and limitations for use and validity.

Keywords:

Elder abuse; Emergency services; screening tools; diagnosis; clinical signs

Versión en Español

Título:

Herramientas de detección para identificar el maltrato al anciano en los servicios de urgencias