Trauma-Informed Approaches to Medical Student Advising: A Pilot Workshop for Medical Student Advisors

Abstract

Introduction: Trauma and adversity are common among medical students and may contribute to burnout, mental health issues, and professionalism concerns. Six principles of trauma-informed care (TIC) have been developed to address trauma and adversity in the general population; Trauma-informed medical education (TIME)—the application of these principles within undergraduate medical education—has been proposed as a strategy to combat medical student distress. Despite this, no studies to date have applied these principles to medical student advising. To address this gap, we developed a workshop to introduce medical school advisors to trauma-informed advising. Methods: Thirty-six faculty advisors participated in a 20-minute workshop. The session began with a brief didactic presentation, followed by case discussion in small groups, then large group review of take-home points. Participants were surveyed pre- and post-training for their knowledge on TIC using multiple choice questions, their attitudes and comfort with TIC, and post-training satisfaction with the session. Results: Participants reported low levels of pre-intervention familiarity with TIC (3.13% of participants rated that they were very or extremely familiar). In terms of learning objectives being met: 93.55% of participants felt the intervention satisfactorily instructed them on how trauma affects medical students, 75% for teaching about TIC principles as applied to advising encounters, and 93.55% for identifying at least 2 resources for students with trauma histories. Discussion. There is a gap in knowledge around trauma-informed approaches in medical student advising and we offer a model to address this gap.