Trauma Informed Care Education for a Level One Trauma Center: Program Evaluation

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this DNP project was to perform a project evaluation of a Trauma Informed Care (TIC) curriculum with the Workplace Violence Prevention (WPV) committee at Harborview Medical Center.Background: Survivors of gun violence compared to other trauma experience severe injury requiring prolonged hospitalization. Traumatic injuries and critical illness are associated with high rates of post-traumatic stress, anxiety, and depression. Given the significant rates of emotional distress of firearm-related injury, it is critical that healthcare workers are given the tools to emotionally support these patients and reduce the psychological burden of disease. TIC is a framework for interacting with others that considers an individual’s experiences with trauma and the ways it may impact a response to challenging situations. The WPV Committee integrates TIC into their existing training, and their feedback provided valuable insights into the quality of this curriculum. Methods: The curriculum was presented to members of the WPV Committee in a single session via Zoom. The program evaluation was distributed after the presentation as an anonymous survey. Descriptive statistics were used to evaluate and describe the quantitative data collected from surveys. Qualitative results from the final portion of the survey were read and analyzed for themes and included in the final report. Results: Two members of the committee participated in the presentation, and one completed the program evaluation. The participant evaluated all components of TIC to be adequately addressed, indicating “strongly agree.” They noted the program to be adequate in length by indicating “strongly agree.” Qualitative analysis demonstrated a concern for reducing the content to a remote, self-paced curriculum similar to many facility-wide trainings. Conclusions: The results of this program evaluation demonstrate this TIC curriculum to be an adequate educational intervention in introducing the principles of TIC to medical center staff. Healthcare staff that work in medical centers who care for these patients after violent injury have the opportunity to provide not only physical support, but also psychological support to improve outcomes. Trauma centers should support interventions that provide staff with the tools to care for patients that consider the enduring effects of trauma.