Webinar

Practical Strategies: Identifying and preventing SML risk in the pediatric environment

Learn best practices for pediatric chaperone policies, consent, and sexual misconduct risk management in healthcare.

Part IV of our series on sexual misconduct in healthcare focuses on practical strategies for protecting pediatric patients and strengthening healthcare organizations’ sexual abuse and misconduct risk-management programs. The webinar explains why pediatric patients are particularly vulnerable and why healthcare systems must look beyond individual “bad actors” to address the institutional policies, workflows, training gaps, and reporting failures that can allow misconduct — or allegations of misconduct — to occur.

In this 44-minute webinar, Michelle Earl and Madison Edwards of OmniSure walk through the core elements of a protective system: clear policies defining sensitive examinations, standardized consent and assent processes, effective chaperone models, professional-boundary training, patient and parent education, thorough documentation, screening, monitoring, reporting, and investigations. The speakers distinguish between opt-in, opt-out, and mandatory chaperone approaches, emphasizing that simply “offering” a chaperone may place the burden of patient safety on the patient. They also discuss higher-risk situations involving children and adolescents, patients with trauma histories or developmental delays, individuals in foster care or involved in the legal system, patients with limited English proficiency, sedated patients, and behavioural health settings.

This webinar delivers actionable guidance for improving pediatric safety practices now: define which examinations and patient populations require a chaperone, keep policies current and eliminate vague language such as “should” or “may,” train and competency-check chaperones and providers, use cross-training to make coverage operationally feasible, and clearly document the examination, education provided, chaperone participation, and any declination or exception. The speakers also explain why dual documentation can create independently corroborated accounts of an encounter, why reporting pathways should bypass organizational silos and reach risk management, and when an independent investigation overseen by counsel may be appropriate. Finally, they offer a practical renewal-readiness framework — using tracers, layered “Swiss cheese” safeguards, active-bystander training, transparent non-retaliation protections, and measurable processes — to help healthcare organizations strengthen patient protection, support clinicians, and demonstrate to insurers that sexual misconduct risk is being actively managed.

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Article

Practical Strategies: Identifying and preventing SML risk in the pediatric environment

Three key takeaways:

Define

Protect

Report

About our speakers

Hala Helm

Madison Edwards

Michelle Foster Earle

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