Examining the power of Child-At-Risk electronic medical record (eMR) alerts to share interpersonal violence, abuse and neglect concerns: Do child protection alerts help?

As part of the study, 180 NSW health workers were asked to assess the impact of “Child-at-Risk” alerts on the way they responded to children and pregnant women presenting through the health system. The alerts are applied to patients’ electronic medical records by staff who have identified and reported risks to child wellbeing.

Around three-quarters of study participants agreed or strongly agreed that the alerts helped improve health worker responses to at-risk clients.

Over one third of health workers surveyed reported that they had changed their approach to working with a patient after seeing an alert on a patient record.