Increasing Physician Inquiry for Intimate Partner Violence in a Family Medicine Setting: Placing a Screening Prompt on the Patient Record

We investigated the impact of a prompt on patient records reminding physicians to inquire about intimate partner violence (IPV) during a complete history and physical examination. During the baseline, education-only period, 2% of women patients had documented domestic violence inquiry. Following addition of the chart prompt, 92% of women received documented IPV screening. Following chart prompt removal, the percentage of women with documented screening was 36%, and the overall percentage screened, including those inquiries documented in the chart and those documented only by a nurse following the visit, was 72%. These findings suggest that a written prompt to ask about IPV increases inquiry rates among primary care physicians. Study implications and limitations are discussed.