Advancing Trauma-Informed Care in Acute Hospitals

We are pleased to share details of a new research initiative focused on improving how hospitals respond to the needs of patients and staff affected by psychological trauma.

The Need for Trauma-Informed Care

Research shows that over 70% of the population will experience at least one traumatic event in their lifetime, with many experiencing multiple traumas. These experiences can profoundly influence how individuals engage with healthcare. For patients, hospital encounters may inadvertently trigger distress, leading to disengagement from care and poorer health outcomes. For staff, both personal and work-related trauma can also contribute to stress, burnout, and reduced resilience.

Recognising these challenges, St James Hospital alongside TCD recognised there was an urgent need to embed trauma-informed care (TIC) approaches within healthcare systems, and explored innovative actor simulation methods for training staff in busy wards where staff could attend short training sessions as part of their shift work. Quality Matters supported this project through contributing to the programme manual and by provision of actors to support simulations. 

TIC prioritises safety, trust, choice, collaboration, and empowerment, aiming to reduce retraumatisation while improving both patient experience and staff well-being.

About the Project

The study, conducted at St James’s Hospital in Dublin, is developing and testing a new model called TS4TIC (Translational Simulation for Trauma-Informed Care). This innovative programme combines:

• Translational simulation (TS) : realistic, team-based simulations carried out in the hospital environment.

• The Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s (IHI) Model for Improvement: an evidence-based framework using Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles to implement and evaluate change.
  
  

Through this approach, staff from across the hospital — including clinicians, nurses, porters, receptionists, and security — engage in structured simulation scenarios that reflect real-world challenges. Importantly, many scenarios are co-designed with people who have lived experience of trauma, ensuring that training is grounded in authentic perspectives.

Expected Outcomes

The project resulted in the development of a freely available TS4TIC Toolkit, including:

• A suite of co-designed simulation scenarios.
• Training resources for staff at all levels.
• A compendium of evaluation indicators to guide future implementation.

The ultimate goal is to provide support for hospitals for flexible training to help them with one piece of the journey to becoming a trauma-informed hospital, starting with St James’s Hospital and extending nationally and internationally.We are proud to have contributed to this pioneering work and look forward to its impact on health service delivery and staff well-being

Read the full report here

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