Abstract

Background: Patients and staff have unique pasts, often consisting of adverse childhood events and/ or current social challenges that affect how people, interactions, and events are processed. Increasing staff complaints were observed about challenging patients’ behaviors, resulting in some staff not wanting to care for these patients. There was a lack of awareness and understanding not only about the nature of traumatization and how it manifests in people with maladaptive coping, but also staff’s own trauma triggers that can lead to secondary trauma, compassion fatigue, burnout, and even depression (Stokes et al., 2017).

Method: The project used the evidence-based 8A’s framework (Ecoff et al., 2020). The evidence shows a new care delivery, trauma-informed care (TIC), reduces burnout, creates resiliency in staff, and provides a more positive interaction for patients (Lee et al., 2021). Two established surveys were offered to be completed by 123 trauma staff particpants pre and post intervention measuring the impact of implementing TIC education on a Trauma Progressive Care Unit at a Level One Trauma Center. The education was a collaborative 1-hour video developed using the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s Trauma-Informed Approach. In addition, the opportunity to attend monthly Healer Education Assessment Referral meetings, "a facilitated safe space to help process individual cases or ongoing situations on the unit," was provided.

Result: TIC Provider Survey 2.0, showed the average staff’s knowledge (4%), attitude (6%), and self-competence (13%) all increased towards TIC. The Professional Quality of Life 5 survey showed higher compassion satisfaction and lower secondary traumatic stress and burnout scores in staff. Utilizing the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers Systems, which provides discharged patient’s feedback regarding their hospital stay, showed units patient-to-nurse communication “top box” increasing 10% in patients reporting nurses "always" communicated well.

Conclusion: Due to staff willingness to learn TIC, staff made minor changes to the way they care for patients and themselves, allowing patients to feel better communicated with by nurses and improving staff wellness. TIC fosters a more positive healthcare interaction and environment for both patients and staff. Formal TIC training should be accessible to all healthcare employees by their organization to create TIC culture around the world.

Notes

References:

Bruce, M. M., Kassam-Adams, N., Rogers, M., Anderson, K. M., Sluys, K. P., & Richmond, T. S. (2018). Trauma providers' knowledge, views, and practice of trauma-informed care. Journal of Trauma Nursing, 25(2), 131–138. https://doi.org/10.1097/JTN.0000000000000356

Cations, M., Laver, K., Couzner, L., Flatman, S., Bierer, P., Ames, C., Huo, Y., & Whitehead, C. (2021). Trauma-informed care in geriatric inpatient units to improve staff skills and reduce patient distress: a co-designed study protocol. BMC geriatrics, 21(1), 492. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12877-021-02441-1

Fleishman, J., Kamsky, H., Sundborg, S. (2019). Trauma-informed nursing practice OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing Vol. 24, No. 2, Manuscript 3. https://doi.org/10.3912/OJIN.Vol24No02Man03

Lee, H.J., Lee, M., & Jang, S.J. (2021). Compassion Satisfaction, Secondary Traumatic Stress, and Burnout among Nurses Working in Trauma Centers: A Cross-Sectional Study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(14, 7228. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18147228

Stokes, Y., Jacob, J. D., Gifford, W., Squires, J., & Vandyk, A. (2017). Exploring nurses' knowledge and experiences related to trauma-informed care. Global Qualitative Nursing Research, 4, https://doi.org/10.1177/2333393617734510

Description

A nurse’s career is challenging and may start to assimilate into their personal lives. This can result in compassion fatigue, secondary traumatic stress, burnout, or depression. Patients and staff come in with unique pasts often consisting of adverse childhood events (ACEs) that play a role in how people, interactions, and events are processed. This session aims to show the importance of trauma-informed care training and its impact to provide a more positive interaction for patients and staff.

Author Details

Cristal Vieyra-Poston, BSN, RN

Sigma Membership

Gamma Gamma

Type

Presentation

Format Type

Text-based Document

Study Design/Type

N/A

Research Approach

Translational Research/Evidence-based Practice

Keywords:

Stress and Coping, Acute Care, Continuing Education, Trauma-Informed Care, TIC

Conference Name

36th International Nursing Research Congress

Conference Host

Sigma Theta Tau International

Conference Location

Seattle, Washington, USA

Conference Year

2025

Rights Holder

All rights reserved by the author(s) and/or publisher(s) listed in this item record unless relinquished in whole or part by a rights notation or a Creative Commons License present in this item record.

Review Type

Abstract Review Only: Reviewed by Event Host

Acquisition

Proxy-submission

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The Effect of Trauma-Informed Care (TIC) Training Among Trauma Staff and Patient Satisfaction

Seattle, Washington, USA

Background: Patients and staff have unique pasts, often consisting of adverse childhood events and/ or current social challenges that affect how people, interactions, and events are processed. Increasing staff complaints were observed about challenging patients’ behaviors, resulting in some staff not wanting to care for these patients. There was a lack of awareness and understanding not only about the nature of traumatization and how it manifests in people with maladaptive coping, but also staff’s own trauma triggers that can lead to secondary trauma, compassion fatigue, burnout, and even depression (Stokes et al., 2017).

Method: The project used the evidence-based 8A’s framework (Ecoff et al., 2020). The evidence shows a new care delivery, trauma-informed care (TIC), reduces burnout, creates resiliency in staff, and provides a more positive interaction for patients (Lee et al., 2021). Two established surveys were offered to be completed by 123 trauma staff particpants pre and post intervention measuring the impact of implementing TIC education on a Trauma Progressive Care Unit at a Level One Trauma Center. The education was a collaborative 1-hour video developed using the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s Trauma-Informed Approach. In addition, the opportunity to attend monthly Healer Education Assessment Referral meetings, "a facilitated safe space to help process individual cases or ongoing situations on the unit," was provided.

Result: TIC Provider Survey 2.0, showed the average staff’s knowledge (4%), attitude (6%), and self-competence (13%) all increased towards TIC. The Professional Quality of Life 5 survey showed higher compassion satisfaction and lower secondary traumatic stress and burnout scores in staff. Utilizing the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers Systems, which provides discharged patient’s feedback regarding their hospital stay, showed units patient-to-nurse communication “top box” increasing 10% in patients reporting nurses "always" communicated well.

Conclusion: Due to staff willingness to learn TIC, staff made minor changes to the way they care for patients and themselves, allowing patients to feel better communicated with by nurses and improving staff wellness. TIC fosters a more positive healthcare interaction and environment for both patients and staff. Formal TIC training should be accessible to all healthcare employees by their organization to create TIC culture around the world.