Resident-focused trauma-informed medical education policies: an environmental scan of Canadian medical schools and partner organizations.

BACKGROUND

Psychological trauma among resident physicians (residents) is common yet underrecognized, even though it can significantly impact learning, patient care, and well-being. Trauma-informed approaches are one way in which trauma can be mitigated. The purpose of this study was to examine institutional policies related to resident-focused trauma-informed medical education (RF-TIME) at Canadian institutions involved in providing and governing physician training.

METHODS

We conducted an environmental scan of publicly available online content related to RF-TIME at Canadian medical schools (n = 18) and partner organizations (n = 42), initially focusing on policy, and then broadening our scan to include strategic planning, standards, guidelines, reports, educational documents and support resources. Findings were tabulated and synthesized.

RESULTS

We were unable to find RF-TIME-specific policies at any Canadian medical school or partner organization. Thirteen schools briefly mentioned RF-TIME approaches within strategic planning (n = 3 schools), policies not focused on trauma (n = 9), guidelines (n = 1), reports (n = 3), educational resources (n = 3), and/or support resources (n = 8). Seventeen partner organizations included RF-TIME content within strategic planning (n = 2 organizations), standards (n = 2), guidelines (n = 1), reports (n = 9), educational resources (n = 2), and/or support resources (n = 4).

CONCLUSIONS

Resident-focused policies around trauma-informed approaches to medical education are absent within Canadian institutions and organizations involved in the training and regulation of physicians. Developing and implementing RF-TIME policies may help establish more supportive learning environments for medical trainees with psychological post-traumatic injury.