Trauma Informed Care Discussion Post Essay

Trauma discussion post instructions

Thinking about the old adage, “Never judge a book by its cover,” wouldn’t it be great to be able to see inside other people – I mean really see inside. As human beings, we keep so much of ourselves hidden, and we see only a small portion of the lives of the people we encounter. People experience things, trauma and other adverse childhood experiences, that can follow them well into adulthood. To help better understand the people we care for—what may be the driving force behind their complaints—trauma-informed care shifts the focus from “What’s wrong with you?” to “What happened to you?” In making this mental shift in our practice, we can potentially improve overall patient health outcomes along with providers and staff wellness.

Prior to answering this discussion prompt, explore the website (including the videos) for the Trauma-Informed Care Implementation Resource Center to help improve your understanding and knowledge of this concept Trauma-Informed Care Implementation Resource Center. The website has a lot of great information, and be sure to review the 10 Key Ingredients for Trauma-Informed Care (PDF) and the Fact-Sheet – Understanding the Effects of Trauma on Health (PDF) I will upload these 2 documents

Instructions:
For this week’s discussion, define trauma-informed care (TIC), explain how stress and health are related, and discuss how an APRN can utilize this information in caring for vulnerable populations. Please include at least 3 scholarly sources within your initial post.

Trauma Informed Care. Trauma Informed Care Discussion Post Essay

Trauma informed care refers to the approach that considers the possibility that an individual is more likely than not to have undergone trauma in their lives. This approach recognizes trauma symptoms in an individual and helps the therapist acknowledge the role of trauma in an individual’s life (Koetting, 2016). The TIC approach also recognizes that healthcare teams and personnel should strive to develop a holistic picture of a patient’s life so as to provide them with effective healthcare, with a view to healing the traumatized individual. With this approach, the healthcare worker can help the patient significantly improve their engagement, health outcomes, and adherence to treatments suggested during therapy sessions. TIC is also important because it helps in the reduction of avoidable healthcare costs (Freeman &Kautz, 2018). For instance, consider a child who has experienced trauma and visits a therapist who fails to apply TIC when interacting with the patient. The therapy sessions may not help the child achieve positive health outcomes sooner because of delayed understanding of their trauma.

The major goals of TIC include to realize the impact of trauma and help the patient on their recovery path, to easily recognize the signs and symptoms of trauma in people, integrate the knowledge of trauma into policies within healthcare facilities, and to avoid re-traumatization of the patient.Trauma Informed Care Discussion Post Essay

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Stress and health are related because of the impact that stress has on the body on a mental and physical level. Physically, high stress levels tend to lead to poor health outcomes such as the development of stomach ulcers. These are painful lesions within the stomach that cause significant pain and discomfort in the patient. To add to this, stress contributes to poor health in an individual because it leads to the development of hypertension because of constant worry and anxiety. For some people, stress could lead to weight-loss because of poor dieting; hence, leaving the person susceptible to opportunistic diseases related to a deficient diet.

Stress leads to poor mental health in an individual because it leads to anxiety disorders. An individual who suffers from stress risks developing anxiety because of the constant worrying about things (Toussaint et al., 2016). Additionally, stress leads to sleeping disorders such as insomnia, because they stay up late overthinking and worrying about situations in their lives. Lastly, stress could lead to substance abuse disorders; mostly alcoholism. Most alcoholics indulge in alcohol as a coping mechanism to forget their challenges or traumatic situations. Prolonged indulgence creates dependence, which leads to substance abuse disorder.

An APRN can utilize the concept of TIC to care for vulnerable populations by understanding that they most likely have trauma, and help them achieve better health outcomes. For instance, the homeless people have trauma from violent interactions with police or suffering the indignity of lacking basic human needs. An APRN working with the homeless should utilize the concept of TIC to help them increase their engagement with the nurse during the sessions. More patient engagement is important because it would help the nurse develop appropriate interventions for the patient.

The APRN can also teach the vulnerable population about stress and health management to help them enhance their health outcomes. By teaching them these management techniques, the vulnerable population reduce the factors that could affect their health and bring negative outcomes. The best way to approach this would be to have the nurse hold frequent sessions with the population to ensure they mitigate stress factors to maintain their health.Trauma Informed Care Discussion Post Essay

References

Freeman Williamson, L., &Kautz, D. (2018). Trauma-Informed Care Is the Best Clinical Practice in Rehabilitation Nursing. Rehabilitation Nursing, 43(2), 73-80. https://doi.org/10.1097/rnj.0000000000000091

Koetting, C. (2016). Trauma-Informed Care. Journal Of Christian Nursing, 33(4), 206-213. https://doi.org/10.1097/cnj.0000000000000315

Toussaint, L., Shields, G. S., Dorn, G., &Slavich, G. M. (2016). Effects of lifetime stress exposure on mental and physical health in young adulthood: How stress degrades and forgiveness protects health. Journal of health psychology, 21(6), 1004–1014. https://doi.org/10.1177/1359105314544132. Trauma Informed Care Discussion Post Essay