Confusion about interpretation of medical information on cause of injury: practice issues from Serious Case Reviews

Authors:
NATIONAL SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO CHILDREN, SOCIAL CARE INSTITUTE FOR EXCELLENCE
Publishers:
Social Care Institute for Excellence, NSPCC
Publication year:
2016
Place of publication:
London

This briefing looks at examples of child protection cases where agencies incorrectly interpret medication information from health professionals about possible causes of injuries as definitive, rather than one of a range of possibilities. It is one of a series 14 briefings looking at difficult issues in inter-professional communication and decision-making in children’s safeguarding identified from 38 Serious Case Reviews, with added information gathered from three multi-agency ‘summits’. The briefing draws on a number examples for serious case review reports to highlight the reasons for the wrong interpretation of advice from health professionals, which include a general over-reliance on medical opinion to determine risk, rather than the weighing up of a range of types of evidence. It provides solutions suggested by summit participants and contains a set of self-assessment questions to support managers and practitioners to tackle similar issues in their own local area. (Edited publisher abstract)

Subject terms:
child protection, interagency cooperation, serious case reviews, health professionals, injuries, decision making, interprofessional relations;
Location(s):
England
Link:
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