History

• The Centre for Evidence-Based Orthopaedics at McMaster University has devoted over a decade of innovative research to investigating intimate partner violence in patients with orthopaedic injuries (CLICK HERE to view publications).  

Key findings from our previous research include:

- Serious orthopaedic injuries are the second most common physical manifestation of  intimate partner violence in women

- 1 in 3 women presenting to fracture clinics have experienced intimate partner violence in their lifetime and 1 in 6 in the past year

- Health care providers are supportive of intimate partner violence education, but are uncomfortable and unprepared to ask patients about it

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• Fracture clinics in Canada each treat at least 6,500 female patients per year. Of these, each clinic will see approximately 20 women with a history of abuse each week and treat over 1,000 abused women annually. Together, these findings demonstrate a strong rationale for optimizing fracture clinics to assist intimate partner violence victims and were our impetus for designing the EDUCATE program.