Emotional trauma has the potential to interfere with health outcomes for patients, impact family members, and add additional burden for healthcare providers. A number of professional healthcare organizations (e.g., American Academy of Pediatrics, American College of Surgeons) have made recommendations for integrating trauma screening and support for patients and families (to prevent and treat emotional trauma reactions) and providers (to address burnout). Psychologists have an opportunity to lead and partner with healthcare systems to change the culture around emotional trauma and to integrate trauma-informed care knowledge and skills into daily medical practice. Dr. Marsac will present a framework for trauma-informed medical care training for healthcare institutions and showcase two examples of real-world application of this framework. Dr. Marsac will discuss successes and barriers of the trauma-informed medical care training program. She will also provide recommendations on how psychologists can start trauma-informed care training initiatives at their respective institutions and review current resources available to support these initiatives.
Learning Objectives
1) Describe how trauma exposure and trauma reactions impact patients, families, and healthcare professionals in the context of medical care
2) Create a plan for implementation of trauma-informed care trainings in medical settings
3) Discuss how to advocate for trauma-informed care practices in medical settings
Dr. Meghan Marsac is a pediatric psychologist, a tenured Associate Professor, and the Acting Division Chief of Psychology in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Kentucky and Kentucky Children’s Hospital. She also serves as the Associate Director of the Center for Pediatric Traumatic Stress. Dr. Marsac’s program of research centers on medical trauma and includes conducting grant-funded studies to identify predictors of emotional and physical outcomes in the context of acute or chronic medical conditions, developing and validating assessment tools, and creating and evaluating programs to promote recovery and/or adjustment to medical conditions in children and families. Dr. Marsac is a leader in the field of pediatric medical trauma, having published over 70 academic articles and 10 chapters on this topic. She has co-authored a book for parents to use to help support their children through medical care as well as to care for themselves: Afraid of the Doctor, Every Parent’s Guide to Preventing and Managing Medical Trauma (www.afraidofthedoctor.com). Dr. Marsac currently serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Pediatric Psychology and Journal of Traumatic Stress. Dr. Marsac has also given hundreds of talks on understanding and promoting adjustment to injury and illness in children and their families. She is the CEO of the Cellie Coping Company (www.celliecopingcompany.com), which has distributed over 2000 coping kits to families with children with medical conditions. In addition, Dr. Marsac specializes in training medical teams in the implementation of trauma-informed medical care. Clinically, Dr. Marsac implements evidence-based practices to facilitate families' management of medical treatment and emotional adjustment to challenging diagnoses and medical procedures.
Participants of this webinar will receive 1.5 CE credits.
The Society of Pediatric Psychology is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. The Society of Pediatric Psychology maintains responsibility for this program and its contents.
