The objectives of this study were to 1) assess intimate partner violence (IPV) policy and standard practices of United States (US) children’s hospitals, 2) describe system-level barriers to addressing IPV within children’s hospitals, and 3) explore potential associations between hospital system factors and standard IPV practices. For this cross-sectional survey of US children’s hospitals, we recruited a single individual from each hospital to complete an anonymous survey assessing hospital IPV policy and institution-level practice standards. Participants could upload their hospital’s IPV policy for review. We recruited via professional listservs and snowball sampling. Among 36 respondents, most were at academic (94%) and/or free-standing (66%) children’s hospitals in an urban setting (77%). Most (79%) reported having a hospital IPV policy. Most policies included standard response to IPV disclosure (86%), guidelines for child protective services (CPS) reporting related to IPV (75%), IPV documentation (71%), and IPV screening (68%). Review of provided policies revealed variability in other components, including indications for CPS reporting, which were subjective at some institutions. Most (71%) reported their hospital actively partnered with a community IPV agency. Hospitals that partnered with a community IPV agency were more likely to report employee IPV education (84% vs. 40%, p 0.02), availability of an IPV advocate (76% vs. 20%, p 0.006), and use of environmental IPV cues (e.g., posters; 80% vs. 40%, p 0.04). This exploratory study found variability in IPV policy and institution-level practices between hospitals. Further work is needed to better define and disseminate best practices to address IPV in children’s hospitals.

本研究的目的是 1) 评估美国 (US) 儿童医院的亲密伴侣暴力 (IPV) 政策和标准做法，2) 描述在儿童医院内解决 IPV 的系统级障碍，以及 3) 探索两者之间的潜在关联医院系统因素和标准 IPV 实践。对于这项针对美国儿童医院的横断面调查，我们从每家医院招募了一个人来完成一项评估医院 IPV 政策和机构级实践标准的匿名调查。参与者可以上传他们医院的 IPV 政策以供审查。我们通过专业的列表服务和滚雪球抽样进行招聘。在 36 名受访者中，大多数在城市环境中的学术 (94%) 和/或独立 (66%) 儿童医院 (77%)。大多数 (79%) 报告有医院 IPV 政策。大多数政策包括对 IPV 披露的标准回应 (86%)、与 IPV 相关的儿童保护服务 (CPS) 报告指南 (75%)、IPV 文档 (71%) 和 IPV 筛查 (68%)。对所提供政策的审查揭示了其他组成部分的可变性，包括 CPS 报告的适应症，这在某些机构是主观的。大多数 (71%) 报告说他们的医院积极与社区 IPV 机构合作。与社区 IPV 机构合作的医院更有可能报告员工 IPV 教育（84% 对 40%，p = 0.02）、IPV 倡导者的可用性（76% 对 20%，p = 0.006）以及环境 IPV 的使用线索（例如，海报；80% vs. 40%，p = 0.04）。这项探索性研究发现医院之间的 IPV 政策和机构层面的实践存在差异。