Paediatric femur fractures —the value of contextual information on judgement in possible child abuse cases: are we bias?

Conclusion: This study shows that the interpretation of medical results by healthcare professionals can be influenced by contextual information, such as low income and marital status, which are irrelevant to the decision as to whether abuse might have occurred. Given the same information about an injury, women, emergency department and paediatric doctors were more likely to decide that non-accidental trauma was the cause, while paediatric radiologists were least likely to decide this outcome. It is important to prevent contextual influence as much as possible, by recognizing it and implementing a management contextual information procedure.What is Known:• Contextual information is of possible influence on healthcare professionals in identifying non-accidental trauma.• Increased working experience is thought to be protective against this influence.What is New:• Contextual information influenced the interpretation of medical results by healthcare professionals regardless of work experience.• The interpretation of medical results by healthcare professionals is influenced by both affirmative and negative contextual information.
Source: European Journal of Pediatrics - Category: Pediatrics Source Type: research