What is trauma-informed care? Trauma-informed care provides physicians, nurses, and organizations a framework to communicate with and treat patients experiencing traumatic stress. This approach prioritizes creating a safe space and giving patients agency in their treatment and care. It seeks to diminish the risks of re-traumatization and promote patient empowerment.
Trauma can have a profound impact on one’s health. It can trigger the body’s stress system, causing reactions ranging from emotional responses like anger to physical symptoms, such as unexplained pain. Because of trauma’s complex impact on individuals, healthcare providers adopt a trauma-informed approach to care for their patients effectively.
What is trauma-informed care? It is a framework that healthcare professionals use to guide their communication, treatment, and patient care, with the goal of empowering patients on their path to healing. At the core of this framework is the understanding of how trauma impacts patients’ physical, psychological, and emotional health.
At Felician University, students in the Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing (ABSN) program learn to care for patients holistically, gaining the framework for trauma-informed care and the confidence to deliver patient-centered care. In as few as 16 months, they can graduate with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN), ready to excel in today’s complex healthcare environment.
To better answer, “What is trauma-informed care?” you will first need to understand its key principles and why it’s important.
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Trauma-Informed Care Principles and Key Components
Trauma-informed care reframes how providers approach patients who have experienced trauma. It requires providers to take a softer, more compassionate approach by shifting their focus from identifying “what’s wrong” to “what happened?” The goal is to empower patients to recognize their strength and take steps toward healing.
At the core of trauma-informed care is the understanding of how trauma affects individuals and the symptoms it presents. The stress from trauma can make people feel as if they’re in danger when they’re not, cloud memories, and cause fatigue and pain, among other effects.
Before providing treatment or care to patients experiencing traumatic stress, healthcare professionals should know how to:
- Establish safe, stable, and nurturing relationships (known as SSNRs) with patients, their families, and caregivers.
- Recognize and assess the signs of traumatic stress and treat it when needed.
The Trauma-Informed Care Principles
While individual providers can adopt a trauma-informed approach, it is far more effective when adopted by the organization as a whole and incorporated into its operations. According to the CDC’s Center for Preparedness and Response and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the trauma-informed care principles include:
- Safety: A calm space is established, so patients and providers feel physically and psychologically safe.
- Trustworthiness and transparency: Policies, procedures, and decisions are transparently made to promote trust between providers and patients.
- Peer Support: Organizations and providers recognize the importance and integral role that peer support plays in recovery. It builds trust, promotes safety, and empowers.
- Collaboration and mutuality: A trauma-informed approach is only effective when providers and staff collaborate to promote healing.
- Empowerment, voice, and choice: Organizations implement policies that allow providers to adopt an individualized approach to each patient, recognizing that their experiences are unique, so patients feel empowered in their recovery.
- Cultural, historical, and gender Issues: Organizations and providers recognize cultural, historical, and gender differences to provide culturally competent and compassionate care.
Why is Trauma-Informed Care Important?
Trauma-informed care has the potential to empower patients toward healing while forming trusting relationships with their providers. When patients feel comfortable with their providers, they are more likely to return for future treatment and care when needed.
By adopting a trauma-informed approach, physicians and nurses are positioned to anticipate patient responses to procedures and treatments. By anticipating negative responses, healthcare professionals can adjust their approach and communication to help patients feel safe.
Trauma-informed care can also decrease the risk of re-traumatization of patients and even healthcare providers. This approach also helps reduce the potential of staff experiencing secondary traumatic stress, which can occur when one hears the traumatic experience of another. This stress can lead to burnout, chronic fatigue, poor concentration, and more. Through prevention, organizations can improve staff morale and retention.
How Nurses Implement Trauma-Informed Care
Even though registered nurses do not make the treatment plan or organizational decisions, implementing trauma-informed approaches in their daily work can still profoundly impact patients. Nurses can assess their patient interactions by asking themselves three questions:
- Will this build trust?
- Does this show respect?
- Does this help make patients feel safe?
Nurses have ranked as the most trusted profession in the U.S. for decades in Gallup’s Honesty and Ethics of Professions Ratings. This is partly due to the emphasis placed on compassionate care in nursing practice. Small gestures can make a significant difference. Nurses can incorporate a trauma-informed approach in the following ways:
- Introducing themselves: While seemingly simple, introducing themselves and their role to patients helps decrease confusion. Because patients see many care providers throughout the day, reintroducing yourself can help build trust.
- Asking before touching: Asking for permission can help give patients their voices back, help them feel empowered, and build trust.
- Using non-threatening body language: Nurses being mindful and intentional with their body language can help patients feel safe.
- Providing un-prompted patient education: Educating patients on procedures without being prompted helps build trust and makes them feel respected and active in their treatment.
While just a sample of the many ways nurses can provide trauma-informed care, this framework can make all the difference to patients.
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Develop Trauma-Informed Care Skills at Felician University
While trauma-informed care is more critical in certain healthcare environments, healthcare professionals can encounter patients experiencing traumatic stress anywhere. Knowing how to use this framework will benefit you in any nursing specialty.
At Felician University, we are dedicated to preparing the next generation of nurses to take on the challenges of today’s healthcare environment. Our ABSN curriculum is designed to give students the toolkit needed to care for all patients.
Our nursing coursework establishes the foundation for students to build their nursing skills and clinical judgment, which they will hone in skills and nursing simulation labs. They will then care for patients in real healthcare settings during clinical rotations, working alongside and under the supervision of professional nurses.
Our clinical partners include Atlantic Health System and other leading healthcare providers. They offer our students core patient care experiences, where students learn what it’s like to work as a nurse. Working in practice areas such as adult health, mental health, and pediatrics, students gain a comprehensive education.
Take the First Step Today
If you have a non-nursing bachelor’s degree or at least 60 college credits, you might be eligible for the ABSN program at Felician University.
Felician offers two program delivery options to our ABSN students: a hybrid program in Parsippany, New Jersey, that combines online coursework with in-person labs and clinicals, and an entirely in-person, on-ground program at our main campus in Rutherford, New Jersey.
Contact an admissions counselor today to learn more about how our ABSN program allows you to earn a BSN in as few as 16 months, preparing you to take the NCLEX-RN and become a practice-ready nurse.