Using Human-Centered Design to Develop and Implement a Hospital Trauma-Informed Care Education Program to Improve Care for Firearm-Injured People
topic area
Chronic Disease and Injury Prevention
grant recipient
Temple Health
about
Temple University Hospital (TUH) treats the largest number of firearm-injured people in Pennsylvania. Trauma-informed care (TIC) is an approach that recognizes the widespread nature of trauma and seeks to mitigate its negative impacts, and is recommended as a key part of patient-centered comprehensive care for firearm-injured people. Despite the potential for TIC to improve patient care and interrupt cycles of violence, there is a knowledge gap in TIC education implementation for providers caring for firearm-injured people.
The multidisciplinary team at TUH has led foundational work in TIC education, including a survey of emergency department staff members’ attitudes toward TIC and a pilot study in TIC training. They uncovered significant challenges, including disparate staff attitudes toward TIC principles, limited engagement of critical stakeholder groups (e.g. nursing and security), and complex logistics required to operationalize an educational program across the hospital.
status
Dissemination
impact
To address these challenges, the TUH team used Human-centered Design to conduct focus groups and design workshops with staff at all levels — including hospital administration, physicians, nurses, and security staff — to identify themes related to TIC education implementation and develop insight statements and design opportunities from those themes, as well as brainstorm solutions to improve the implementation of TIC care and education at TUH. The team also implemented a pilot TIC education program for nurses and security staff to evaluate receptiveness to TIC principles before and after completion of training.
The themes, ideas, and plans from these focus groups and workshops are being brought to firearm-injured patients for feedback to ensure that the patient perspective is a focus as the team builds TIC training programs.
looking ahead
The TUH team has expanded their work to partner with documentarian Yvonne Latty — an award-winning journalist and professor at Temple University’s Klein College of Media and Communication — on an educational video focused on training healthcare workers in TIC. Through AHE’s network, this training video can help to support TIC at trauma centers across Philadelphia and beyond.
project leads
Jessica H. Beard, MD, MPH
Megan Healy, MD, MAUB