Pilot Testing the Detection of Elder Abuse Through Car Emergency Care Technicians (DETECT) Screening Tool: results from the DETECT pilot project

• NCJ Number: 254194
• Author(s): Brad. Cannella; Jennifer M. Reingle Gonzalez; Me;vin Livingston; Katelyn K. Jetelina; Jason Burnett; Julie C. Weitlauf
• Date Published: 2019
• Length: 17 pages
• Grant Number(s): 2014-MU-CX-0102
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical); Report (Study/Research); Report (Grant Sponsored); Program/Project Description
• Award: Development of a brief elder abuse and neglect screener for Emergency Medical Services: Detection of Elder abuse Through Emergency Care Technicians (DETECT)

Annotation

This study pilot tested the feasibility of implementing an elder abuse (EA) screening tool (DETECT) designed for medics.

Abstract

Testing occurred between September 17th, 2015 and October 26th, 2015. MedStar Mobile Healthcare medics completed the DETECT tool when responding to calls for community-dwelling patients 65 years of age or older. The DETECT tool was used 1,248 times by 97 percent of medics responding to an eligible 911 call. Medics responded affirmatively to at least one screening item on 209 of the completed screenings (16.8 percent). Immediately following the introduction of the DETECT tool, there was an increase of 5.4 (226 percent above baseline) reports per month (p = 0.0056). The DETECT tool was easily incorporated into medic's field-based practice and resulted in an increase in medic-generated reports of EA to APS. Future research designed to evaluate the tool's validity and reliability are warranted. (publisher abstract modified)