Residency Elective

Child Abuse and Neglect Rotation

General Pediatric Residency, Family Medicine Residency, Emergency Medicine Residency

DUMC Pediatric, Family Medicine, Emergency Medicine and Psychiatry Residents and Fellows can select a one week to four week elective with the Child Abuse and Neglect Service.

Residents receive resources on medical evaluation of child abuse/neglect to review and complete during the rotation, and will present on a topic of their choice to the team as part of their training. After observation of the outpatient evaluations at the Child Abuse and Neglect Medical Evaluation Clinic (CANMEC) along with consultation with CANMEC providers, residents will perform caregiver interviews and physical examinations with direct supervision by CANMEC medical staff. Observation of child interviews performed by CANMEC clinical social workers will continue throughout the rotation.

In addition to learning opportunities in the outpatient evaluation setting, residents will participate in weekly multidisciplinary case review conferences to determine the level of concern and recommendations necessary to complete outpatient medical evaluation reports, and accompany CANMEC on-call medical providers during inpatient consultation at DUMC.

Residents will also gain insight into the community response to child abuse/neglect through participation in the bi-weekly Durham community Child Abuse Multi-Agency Review Team (CAMART) meetings in which active abuse/neglect cases are reviewed with local community agencies such as Child Protective Services, Law Enforcement, and mental health providers.  When possible, residents will accompany child abuse physicians or social workers when they testify as expert witnesses in district or superior court.