A Framework for Creating Trauma-Informed Spaces in Medical Education

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines intimate partner violence (IPV) as abuse or aggression including physical and sexual violence, stalking, and psychological aggression in romantic relationships between current and former spouses and dating partners. In the United States alone, about 41% of women and 26% of men experience IPV incidences during their lifetimes, emphasizing the importance of IPV screening by healthcare providers across all specialties. Learning how to mitigate the past experiences of IPV survivors in healthcare settings requires a trauma-informed lens that starts in and includes those in the medical education classroom in the form of trauma-informed medical education. Establishing a trauma-informed educational framework requires recognizing the risk of generating secondary traumatic stress in students as they engage with their academic institution’s patient population. Furthermore, we should also be concerned with mitigating the risk of retraumatization among unknown IPV survivors within the classroom. In this presentation, we will provide insights into our IPV workshop that involves the participation of fourth-year medical students at an academic medical center, where we use a multidisciplinary approach to teaching about IPV. We will also share insights into the perception of the workshop activities, and highlight how community partnerships can enhance our didactic conversations regarding trauma-informed patient care as well as how to navigate the secondary traumatic stress and retraumatization of students as future medical professionals.

Lindsay Serwatka, MD – Obstetrics & Gynecology – Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University; Laura Igarabuza, MD – Family Medicine – Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University