Training to Enhance the Knowledge and Comfort Level of Emergency Physicians Providing Care for Survivors of Sexual Assault

Journal of Continuing Education in the Health Professions (07/06/22) Prusky, Melissa A.; Solomon, Chloe J.E.; Tracy, Kaitlynn P.; et al.

Researchers developed a training program to enhance physicians' understanding of trauma-sensitive care in the emergency department. In all, 39 attending emergency physicians received four hours of training and completed prequestionnaires and postquestionnaires to evaluate their knowledge and comfort levels when providing care to sexual assault survivors. Training included didactic content on trauma neurobiology, communication, and forensic evidence collection. A simulation module featured standardized patients to help learners practice evidence collection and a trauma-sensitive anogenital examination. The results showed that participants exhibited marked improvement in performance for 12 of 18 knowledge-based questions. They also improved on all 11 Likert scale questions that evaluated their comfort levels when communicating with survivors and applying trauma-sensitive methods during medical and forensic examinations. "Considering the prevalence of sexual violence, it is imperative that physicians are appropriately educated on trauma-sensitive care," the authors said.

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