Development of an Audit Tool to Evaluate the Documentation of Partner Abuse Assessments within a Provincial Emergency Department: An Exploratory Study

The aim of this study was to develop a clinically valid and reliable audit tool that evaluates the assessment documentation of females presenting to the emergency department following an assault secondary to partner abuse. A 5-step process informed by a quality improvement approach was used to develop the tool and good inter-rater reliability was achieved. The tool developed has wide utility in services implementing family violence intervention in which nurses have a key role.