CHAMP works to improve the NYS medical response to child abuse. It does this by addressing two
needs: the need for skilled medical evaluation of children suspected of being sexually abused and better
identification, treatment, and reporting of child abuse by primary pediatric and emergency department
medical providers.
Improving the response to child sexual abuse
CHAMP works in partnership with the state’s child advocacy centers (CACs), multidisciplinary teams
(MDTs) and the New York City Comprehensive Evaluation and Treatment of Child Abuse and Neglect
(CETCAN) program to improve the skills of physicians, physician assistants and nurse practitioners
with pediatric experience. CHAMP offers the state’s only standardized training for licensed providers regarding the identification, treatment, and management of suspected child sexual abuse cases. This training is imperative because these skills are not part of standard medical training.
The CHAMP training consists of a self-study course, Evaluating Child Sexual Abuse, and a mentorship with a child abuse expert. CHAMP-trained Providers can better identify and document sexual abuse cases, thus helping the other members of the multi-disciplinary team perform their jobs. In addition, CHAMP enables the CACs to meet the National Children’s Alliance (NCA) standard of peer review through its quality assurance program of educational review of cases by experts and quarterly review of cases, a continuing medical education (CME) activity. CHAMP also improves the quality of care by compiling research-based and expert-reviewed Practice Recommendations for use by the CACs and
NYS medical providers. On July 1, 2008, CHAMP expanded training to include medical residents.
Mentors affiliated with medical schools can now offer the CHAMP Residency Training Program during
a child abuse rotation.
This training and quality assurance is offered through 13 CHAMP Mentors, child abuse experts, and
their 10 Centers of Excellence that serve as the sites for the mentorships. The mentors meet through
monthly web-supported teleconferences and review cases online using a database and format created by
CHAMP and available through a secure, password-protected area of CHAMPprogram.com. About 60%
of the budget is needed to support these functions.
Improving the identification, treatment, and reporting of child abuse
CHAMP provides web-based resources for identifying, treating, and reporting child abuse. The webbook
Child Abuse Evaluation & Treatment for Medical Providers has been available at
ChildAbuseMD.com since June 2005. Since then, it has had over 817,000 visitors.
With the launch of public area of CHAMPprogram.com in September 2007, CHAMP began offering
resources and coursework for primary pediatric care and emergency department providers. It provided
its first educational webcast in June 2008. In July 2008 CHAMP added educational opportunities for
those in medical training with its Observed Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) case of physical abuse. By using the Internet, education is available to all medical providers and medical schools in NYS and in a convenient format. The remaining 40% of the budget goes to creating and marketing these educational offerings.
In NYS child abuse is ten times more common than children killed or injured in car crashes and forty
times more common than children with elevated blood lead levels. Child abuse is an epidemic that has
been overlooked as a public health concern. Medical providers lack training in all aspects of
identification and treatment of child abuse. Two-thirds of the children who sustain abusive head trauma
are seen in the week prior to these injuries by a medical provider who missed other signs of abuse.
Improving the identification and reporting of child abuse will save lives as well as reduce suffering.
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Every child deserves a skilled medical exam when child abuse is suspected.
