Investigate the roles and professional responsibilities of the nurse when caring for children who may have experienced abuse
Child abuse is a significant social issue, which has the potential to impact on the development and wellbeing of the individual throughout the lifespan. Nurses have a vital role in recognising and responding to abuse. The purpose of assessment task one is to investigate the roles and professional responsibilities of the nurse when caring for children who may have experienced abuse. Further, this assessment task is designed to encourage you to consider the impact that abuse may have on a young child’s health and development. Scenario: You are working in the Emergency Department when Samuel, a 2 year old boy, presents with a fracture to his right scapula. Samuel is a previously well child with no significant health history. On assessment, Samuel has significant swelling and bruising over his right shoulder, and is distressed when you handle his right arm. He also has small, oval shaped bruises on his upper arm, and yellowed bruising around his left ear. You take a history from Samuel’s mother, who tells you that Samuel fell off the bottom step and landed on his back yesterday afternoon. She states that he “seemed ok” after the fall but that when she got him out of bed this morning he wouldn’t move his arm, so she brought him to the emergency department. Assignment Question: Discuss the potential impact of abuse on the development and wellbeing of the child. Identify factors in Samuel’s presentation that may indicate that he has been abused, and describe your professional responsibilities when abuse is suspected. Demonstrates understanding of the potential impact of abuse on child development and wellbeing 30 marks Identifies aspects of the scenario which may indicate abuse 20 marks Demonstrates understanding of the nurse’s professional responsibilities in assessing and responding to suspected child abuse 10 marks Please refer to the rubrics in Assignment question file, structure the assignment according to that. Use the articles and material provided as references and apart from that use other peerly reviewed articles and government websites only. For the scenario part of the assignment- You need to pull out elements of the scenario which might make you suspect abuse (you don’t need to reference the case study), but you DO need to then explain WHY each of these aspects of the scenario might indicate abuse, and this will require you to provide supporting evidence from the literature. For the nursing responsibilities part of the assignment- please refer to Australian helplines of child care, child protection etc. Minimum of 13 references required in APA style. This assignment is an ESSAY. It requires a Meaningful Introduction of 150 words, Body paragraph which includes each part of the assignment question to appropriate count of words according to rubric marking weightage, and a conclusion of 150 words which must not include any reference.