Feasibility and Impact of Trauma-Informed Care Training in Internal Medicine Residency: A Pilot Study

Abstract

Introduction: Mounting evidence indicates that early life trauma is highly prevalent and associated with adverse health outcomes later in life. However, primary care providers report lacking the training to effectively address trauma encountered in daily practice. There is a paucity of research describing the implementation and evaluation of trauma-informed care (TIC) curricula within Graduate Medical Education.Methods: We piloted a three-hour TIC workshop facilitated by a community-based psychologist expert to assess the feasibility and impact of TIC training on Internal Medicine (IM) residents' knowledge, attitudes and skills related to TIC. Participants were a subset of IM residents in a health-equity-focused curricular pathway in the University of Colorado IM Residency. Residents completed anonymous surveys one week before and after the workshop, and a final survey 10 weeks later. Residents who did not participate in the workshop completed a similar baseline survey (control group). Data were analyzed using matched pair Ttests.Results: Fourteen of 20 residents (70%) who participated in the pilot workshop completed the initial survey. Of these, 10 (71%) completed the first post-workshop survey, and seven (50%) completed the final survey. We observed significant improvements in residents' self-reported knowledge, attitudes and skills related to TIC. The majority of residents in the control group reported a desire for TIC training.Conclusions: TIC is an important curricular gap in IM training. A single, brief TIC workshop was feasible and was associated with improved self-reported knowledge, attitudes and skills among IM residents.

Experiences of Dietetic Interns Taking a Trauma-Informed Care Educational Intervention

“…By prioritizing dynamic and active learning opportunities, learners are more engaged and can develop critical thinking skills to help them navigate complex scenarios in realworld practice. The results are consistent with previous studies that indicate healthcare students prefer more learning activities, such as role-playing, discussing topics using a TIC approach, and practicing in real-life scenarios (Chokshi et al, 2020;Pletcher et al, 2019;Ramadurai et al, 2022).…”