Trauma-Informed Care for Healthcare Professionals

Course overview

Healthcare professionals increasingly are recognizing the long-term effects of trauma on a person's health. Many traumatic events involve violations of a person's body integrity; thus, experiencing trauma can also affect a person's general attitudes toward medical care. It is critical that healthcare professionals understand the relationship between trauma, adversity, and health, as well as approaches to create clinical environments that are less traumatic for patients and staff, and that they promote recovery and healing through the services they provide. Beginning research has demonstrated that Trauma-Informed Care has the potential to increase patient engagement in treatment and preventive care, decrease staff turnover, increase staff morale, increase staff's ability to provide patient-centered care, and improve the patient experience of care and health outcomes, as well as promote genuine healing.