E
I'm a first-year medical student, and I recently learned that I'll be a "mandated reporter" as soon as I'm licensed to practice. This means that if a patient comes to see me with injuries that are the result of violence, by law I am required to report the incident to the police, who will follow up with an investigation, as well as social workers who will counsel the victim on possible next steps.
My question is this: at what point in the conversation with my patient should I disclose my role as a mandated reporter? Before or after the person has explained that they were harmed?
I hope to always earn my patients' trust. This means "no tricks"...right? But it seems as though my fellow students and my professors all agree that it is best to withhold the details about being "mandated reporters" from our patients so that they won't fear the consequences of telling us they've been abused physically. By this reasoning, if we tell a patient that we must report any instance of physical abuse to the police, we run the risk that they won't tell us anything.
Since I'm not a survivor of physical abuse, I can't form an opinion on how this should be handled. What is ethical? To inform the patient about the police involvement after or before they disclose that they've been abused? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I want to be prepared so that I can be the best support that I can for a patient who comes in with such traumatic wounds.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
My question is this: at what point in the conversation with my patient should I disclose my role as a mandated reporter? Before or after the person has explained that they were harmed?
I hope to always earn my patients' trust. This means "no tricks"...right? But it seems as though my fellow students and my professors all agree that it is best to withhold the details about being "mandated reporters" from our patients so that they won't fear the consequences of telling us they've been abused physically. By this reasoning, if we tell a patient that we must report any instance of physical abuse to the police, we run the risk that they won't tell us anything.
Since I'm not a survivor of physical abuse, I can't form an opinion on how this should be handled. What is ethical? To inform the patient about the police involvement after or before they disclose that they've been abused? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I want to be prepared so that I can be the best support that I can for a patient who comes in with such traumatic wounds.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.