Robert Holl About 25 pediatricians from 10 different countries participated in this Workshop. As we first started to try to define physical abuse, a rather confusing debate ensued. After 20 minutes, everybody agreed that there was no use in trying to find a perfect definition of physical abuse, and that we should focus instead on the role of pediatricians, the diagnostic problems, and the future needs to improve the knowledge of pediatricians. The experiences of pediatricians from different countries are highly comparable.
Physical abuse is a giant problem everywhere.
As there is no general reporting system, data on incidence and prevalence are not available. As no one is adequately trained in this area, diagnostic tools are lacking, and once physical abuse is diagnosed, it is very hard to find the right way to handle it. Conflicting situations with regard to the relationship to patients and parents are almost unavoidable, especially with respect to legal implications. It appears that pediatricians in all countries have their own personal way of coping with these problems. All the participants agreed that one of the most important issues is to include, in the medical curriculum, training on how to recognize and prevent physical abuse.