Wednesday March 12, 2025
Barwon Health community health nurses Holly Lewtas and Kaia De Burgh (pictured) designed a new communication card to help patients with experience of sexual assault or family violence easily identify their history of trauma without retelling their story to healthcare workers.
Researching the impact of the cards, with findings published in the Journal of Advanced Nursing, the nurses found the cards could outline useful personal strategies for patients attending appointments, allowing staff to deliver more effective care with better patient engagement and health outcomes.
Holly said trial participants most commonly reported feelings of safety when using the card and increased likelihood of attending appointments.
“This trauma communication tool may be a useful addition to other resources implemented within a trauma-informed health service to enhance therapeutic relationships and to assist the delivery of safe and appropriate care,” she said.
“This type of tool could easily be adapted for individuals with other needs or preferences who may also face engagement challenges with health services, such as mental health or sensory needs” Holly said.
Barwon Health Social Work manager Karen Todd said the innovative trauma care card was a positive addition to the support provided to our consumers and clients with complex trauma experience.
“People can use the card to communicate to us what we can do to better provide trauma-informed care to them,” she said.
“As many of our consumers and clients have experienced complex trauma, for example family violence, this tool has broad applicability to most areas of care across Barwon health.”
The research was conducted with the support of the Western Alliance Academic Health Science Centre ‘STaRR Emerging Researcher’ training and mentor program and was the successful recipient of an ‘Emerging Researcher Grant’ in 2023.
Read ‘A Novel Tool to Communicate the Needs of Survivors of Trauma to Health Professionals: A Mixed Methods Pilot Study’ here.