Physicians play a pivotal role in identifying and responding to domestic violence, and the Academy strongly supports efforts of the AMA National Advisory Council on Violence and Abuse to address the issue.
That was the message given by AAFP President Mary Frank, M.D., of Mill Valley, Calif., as she welcomed council members to their meeting at AAFP headquarters in Leawood, Kan., May 2.
AAFP President Praises Efforts to Curb Domestic Violence
By Leslie Champlin
5/5/2005
"We know the magnitude of the domestic violence crisis," AAFP President Mary Frank, M.D., left, of Mill Valley, Calif., tells members of the AMA National Advisory Council on Violence and Abuse. Frank joined Arlene Bradley, M.D., right, of the American College of Physicians and other organizational representatives as the council launched its May 2 - 3 meeting at Academy headquarters.
The council works to identify, develop and promote practices and policies that enhance physician awareness of and response to domestic violence.
"We know the magnitude of the domestic violence crisis," said Frank, noting one-third of all women report suffering abuse or violence. Though one-third of abuse victims live in poverty, 26 percent of women victims have an income of $50,000 a year or more. The focus of domestic violence discussions and work tend to be on abuse perpetrated by men against women, children and older people, but a significant portion of domestic violence involves abuse by women against men, women against women and men against men, she added.
"There are no boundaries," she said of the myth that domestic violence occurs only in certain socioeconomic brackets or neighborhoods. "This threatens patients we see in all the communities we work in."
Moreover, though surveys indicate between 70 and 80 percent of patients wish their physicians would ask about domestic violence, only nine percent to 10 percent of doctors do so, Frank added.
She lauded the council's work in identifying issues surrounding domestic violence, methods for increasing physician understanding of the problem, and techniques for improving physician response to suspected abuse or violence against their patients.
"We're your partners in this," Frank said of family physicians and the AAFP. "We'll do everything we can to further the initiatives to protect our patients from violence, to protect our neighbors from violence."
Representatives from 42 organizations comprise the council. Those representatives come from medical and nursing organizations and family violence prevention and other groups, as well as from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the American Bar Association.
"We know the magnitude of the domestic violence crisis," said Frank, noting one-third of all women report suffering abuse or violence. Though one-third of abuse victims live in poverty, 26 percent of women victims have an income of $50,000 a year or more. The focus of domestic violence discussions and work tend to be on abuse perpetrated by men against women, children and older people, but a significant portion of domestic violence involves abuse by women against men, women against women and men against men, she added.
"There are no boundaries," she said of the myth that domestic violence occurs only in certain socioeconomic brackets or neighborhoods. "This threatens patients we see in all the communities we work in."
Moreover, though surveys indicate between 70 and 80 percent of patients wish their physicians would ask about domestic violence, only nine percent to 10 percent of doctors do so, Frank added.
She lauded the council's work in identifying issues surrounding domestic violence, methods for increasing physician understanding of the problem, and techniques for improving physician response to suspected abuse or violence against their patients.
"We're your partners in this," Frank said of family physicians and the AAFP. "We'll do everything we can to further the initiatives to protect our patients from violence, to protect our neighbors from violence."
Representatives from 42 organizations comprise the council. Those representatives come from medical and nursing organizations and family violence prevention and other groups, as well as from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the American Bar Association.
