How often do nurses suspect violence and domestic violence in local emergency medical communication centre? A cross-sectional study

Figures & data

Table 1. Baseline data.

	Violence		No violence
N (%)	336	(0.3)	104,091	(99.7)
Females, N (%)	170	(50.6)	56,253	(54.0)
Age
Average (SD)	38.2	(76.1)	36.5	(26.6)
Median (IQR)	29	(20–45)	33	(14–57)
Urgency level
Yellow, N (%)	192	(57.1)	29,131	(28.0)
Red, N (%)	9	(2.7)	3812	(3.7)

SD: standard deviation; IQR: interquartile range.

Urgency levels. Yellow: acute, but not life threatening; red: potentially life threatening.

Table 2. Inquiries to Arendal out-of-hours local emergency medical communication centre (LEMC) where the nurse suspected violence, by gender and type of violence.

		All violence		Domestic violence		Other violence		No violence suspected
N (%)	All	336	(0.32)	132	(0.13)	203	(0.19)	103,884	(99.68)
	Male	166	(0.35)	28	(0.06)	138	(0.29)	47,827	(99.65)
	Female	170	(0.30)	104	(0.19)	66	(0.12)	56,024	(99.70)
	Gender unknown	0	(0.00)	0	(0.00)	0	(0.00)	33	(100.00)
OR (95% CI)	Male = ref.	0.87 (0.71–1.08)		2.18 (2.09–4.82)		0.41 (0.30–0.55)		1.00 (0.98–1.02)
Incidence	All	136.8		52.9		83.9		41866.0
	Male	136.5		22.6		114.0		38366.7
	Female	137.0		83.5		53.6		45351.9
IRR (95% CI)	Male = ref.	1.00 (0.91–1.11)		3.70 (3.47–3.94)		0.47 (0.43–0.51)		1.18 (0.20–7.10)

Odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) that violence is suspected in females compared to males (reference). Incidence per 100,000 person-years. Incidence rate ratios (IRR) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI), male is reference.

Table 3. Inquiries to the LEMC where the triage nurse suspected violence by age, gender and type of violence.

		Male			Female			Both genders
	Age	N	%	OR (95% CI)	N	%	OR (95% CI)	N	%	OR (95% CI)
All violence	0–14	14	0.10	0.25 (0.23–0.27)	14	0.11	0.27 (0.25–0.29)	28	0.11	0.26 (0.25–0.27)
	15–29	74	0.83	2.00 (1.95–2.06)	68	0.54	1.30 (1.27–1.34)	142	0.66	1.61 (1.59–1.64)
	30–66	74	0.41	REF	85	0.40	0.98 (0.95–1.00)	159	0.41	REF
	67+	3	0.04	0.10 (0.07–0.14)	2	0.02	0.05 (0.03–0.08)	5	0.03	0.07 (0.06–0.09)
	Unknown	1	0.51	1.22 (0.44–3.38)	1	0.44	1.07 (0.39–2.96)	2	0.46	1.12 (0.67–1.86)
Domestic violence	0–14	5	0.04	0.51 (0.39–0.67)	9	0.07	0.98 (0.81–1.18)	14	0.05	0.30 (0.27–0.32)
	15–29	8	0.09	1.23 (1.00–1.50)	38	0.30	4.15 (3.74–4.60)	46	0.21	1.18 (1.14–1.23)
	30–66	13	0.07	REF	57	0.27	3.74 (3.4–4.11)	70	0.18	REF
	67+	2	0.03	0.37 (0.21–0.65)	0	0.00	–	2	0.01	0.06 (0.04–0.11)
	Unknown	0	0.00	–	0	0.00	–	0	0.00	–
Other violence	0–14	9	0.07	0.19 (0.17–0.22)	5	0.04	0.12 (0.09–0.14)	14	0.05	0.23 (0.22–0.25)
	15–29	66	0.74	2.17 (2.10–2.24)	30	0.24	0.70 (0.66–0.73)	96	0.45	1.95 (1.91–1.99)
	30–66	61	0.34	REF	28	0.13	0.39 (0.37–0.41)	89	0.23	REF
	67+	1	0.01	0.04 (0.01–0.11)	2	0.02	0.06 (0.03–0.10)	3	0.02	0.07 (0.05–0.11)
	Unknown	1	0.51	1.48 (0.53–4.11)	1	0.44	1.30 (0.47–3.60)	2	0.46	2.00 (1.20–3.34)

Proportion of violence (%) of all cases within age and gender groups. Odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) that violence is suspected in each age and gender group compared with males age 30–66. For analyses on both genders combined, age group 30–66 is reference.

Table 4. Violence by time of day among 336 suspected victims of violence, percentages with 95% confidence intervals (CI).

	Day (8 am to 3.30 pm)			Afternoon/evening (3.30 pm to 11 pm)			Night (11 pm to 8 am)
	N	%	95% CI	N	%	95% CI	N	%	95% CI
All violence	88	26.2	(21.5–30.9)	132	39.3	(34.1–44.5)	116	34.5	(29.4–39.6)
Other violence	57	27.9	(21.8–34.1)	69	33.8	(27.3–40.3)	78	38.2	(31.6–44.9)
Domestic violence	31	23.5	(16.3–30.7)	63	47.7	(39.2–56.2)	38	28.8	(21.1–36.5)
No violence suspected	38,650	37.1	(36.8–37.4)	49,205	47.3	(47.0–47.6)	16,275	15.6	(15.4–15.9)

Table 5. Reasons for encounter (RFE).

ICPC-2 chapter				Most frequent RFEs (ICPC-2)
	N	%	95% CI		N	%	95% CI
Z: social problem	71	19.4	15.3–23.5	Z25: social problem/traumatic event	66	18.0	14.1–22.0
A: general and unspecified	60	16.4	12.6–20.2	A99: health problem/illness	44	12.0	8.7–15.4
L: musculoskeletal	55	15.0	11.4–18.7	S18: laceration	28	7.7	4.9–10.4
S: skin	44	12.0	8.7–15.4	N79: concussion	13	3.6	1.7–5.4
N: nervous system	27	7.4	4.7–10.1	L72–76: fractures	9	2.5	0.9–4.0
P: psychological	20	5.5	3.1–7.8
Other chapters	24	6.6	4.0–9.1
RFE missing	35	9.6	6.5–12.6

Distribution of ICPC-2 codes among 336 suspected victims of violence, absolute numbers, percentages with 95% confidence intervals (CI).