Recognizing and Identifying Elder Abuse & Neglect

Recognizing and Identifying Elder Abuse & Neglect - #35

Take Quiz

Approximately 11.4% of adults over the age of 60 years will experience some form of mistreatment.

Recognizing cues regarding elder mistreatment during a patient-physician encounter in a clinic, hospital or other care setting.

Understand the types of mistreatment and how to sensitively screen geriatric patients for possible mistreatment.

“Intentional actions that cause harm or create a serious risk of harm (whether or not harm is intended) to a vulnerable elder by a caregiver or other person who stands in a trust relationship to the elder or [a] failure by a caregiver to satisfy the elder’s basic needs or to protect the elder from harm” (National Research Council).

• Identify the 4 types of elder abuse and neglect and their characteristic features. • Use the Elder Abuse Suspicion Index Tool to screen geriatric patients for possible abuse.

  • Durso SM, Sullivan GM. Geriatrics Review Syllabus (8th edition). American Geriatrics Society, 2013.
  • S.A.N.E. Stop Abuse & Neglect of Elders- Helping Professionals Identify and Stop Elder Abuse. SANE Project Team, Medical College of Wisconsin Center for Healthy Communities and Milwaukee County Department on Aging. ©Medical College of Wisconsin, Inc. and Milwaukee County Department on Aging, 2009. http://county.milwaukee.gov/ElderAbuse/SANETrainingCurriculum.htm
  • Yaffe MJ, Wolfson C, Lithwick M, Weiss D. Development and validation of a tool to improve physician identification of elder abuse: The Elder Abuse Suspicion Index (EASI) ©. Journal of Elder Abuse and Neglect 2008; 20(3). http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18928055
This GFF ___ my competence in geriatrics.

Gretchen Wagner, Kathryn Denson MD, Elizabeth Nilsson MD

Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin