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Helping Nurses Identify And Report Sentinel Injuries Of Child Abuse In Infants, Elizabeth Cleek, Joan P. Totka, Lynn K. Sheets, Joshua P. Mersky, Kristin Haglund

College of Nursing Faculty Research and Publications

Sentinel injuries (SIs) are some of the earliest and most readily identifiable red flags of child abuse. SIs are unexpected bruising or intra-oral injuries in pre-mobile infants and highly correlated with child abuse. However, SIs are not always recognized and reported as red flags of child abuse. Infants are left at risk for continued harm when SIs are not identified and reported. Although increasing nurses' knowledge of SIs is important, child abuse researchers and behavioral theorists have identified that knowledge alone does not predict nurses' behaviors when identifying and reporting suspected child abuse. Other predictors may include implicit biases, interpersonal …