The healthcare professional must hone assessment and intervention skills that may be needed should an abuse case manifest. Emergency healthcare professionals are thought to be in a principal position to identify possible elder abuse cases. A major drawback to the development of specific guidelines and education on this topic stems from the lack of a consistent and universal definition of the problem. As with other forms of abuse, it is suspected that elder abuse is underreported. It is difficult to assess the invasiveness of elder abuse when the report of the mistreatment is withheld.
Experts agree that elder abuse is far less likely to be reported than child or spouse abuse.
The mistreatment of the elderly did not become a major healthcare concern until the late 1970's, when an advocate for the elderly, Suzanne Steinmetz, presented her research on the abuse of elders to a Congressional Subcommittee. This committee introduced the term 'elder abuse,' and informed the country about the prevalence of this problem. A variety of studies on elder abuse have been published since that time. Subsequent studies disproved the initial profiles. Elder abuse may not actually be on the rise.