Registered Nurses´ Association of Ontario
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Sample Policy 1: Organizational Policy
PURPOSE
To ensure that staff in the relevant Services Areas understand their responsibility to identify and
effectively respond to women who have been abused.
POLICY
Staff in the relevant Services Areas:
- Are knowledgeable about the dynamics of woman abuse, and its impact on the abused woman and her child(ren). (APPENDIX: STATEMENT OF BELIEFS ABOUT WOMAN ABUSE);
- Are skilled in responding effectively to disclosures of abuse;
- Are knowledgeable about community resources for abused women and their children; and
- Will, where appropriate, routinely screen all women over the age of 12 for woman abuse using the Routine Universal Comprehensive Screening (RUCS) Protocol.
PROCEDURE
1.0 Each Services Area will, where appropriate, develop procedures for the routine screening and early
identification of woman abuse.
APPENDIX: STATEMENT OF BELIEFS ABOUT WOMAN ABUSE
We believe…
- All women have the right to live free of abuse.
- Woman abuse can result in significant physical and psychological harm, including death.
- Woman abuse is an abuse of power.
- Woman abuse is not the fault of the woman; offenders must be held accountable for their actions.
- Woman abuse is against the law.
- The safety of abused women and their children is the fundamental priority of intervention.
- Women who have been abused have options and the right to choose.
At the same time, service workers have the responsibility to:
- create conditions where a woman is given an opportunity to make informed choices; and
- assist in safety planning.
- Health care workers are not responsible for finding solutions to an incidence of woman abuse, but instead are a part of a coordinated community response.
