Tag Teaming Trauma-Informed Care in Nursing Education: Shifting Passive to Active Learning

Area of Science:

• Nursing Education
• Simulation-Based Learning
• Trauma-Informed Care

Background:

• Trauma-informed care (TIC) is crucial for patient care, yet effective teaching strategies for nursing curricula are lacking.
• Understanding trauma's impact on patient responses is essential for nurses.
• Limited guidance exists on integrating TIC into nursing education.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe the application of tag-teaming simulation (TTS) for teaching trauma-informed care (TIC).
• To evaluate TTS as a method for introducing TIC to first-semester nursing students.

Main Methods:

• Trauma-informed care principles were taught using tag-teaming simulation (TTS).
• Communication skills were emphasized as a key component of TIC application.
• Cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domains were assessed using pre- and posttests.

Main Results:

• Students reported TTS enhanced their understanding of TIC and communication practice (66.2% strongly agreed, 25.4% agreed).
• Significant knowledge increases were observed in health consequences (P < .001) and assessment approaches (P = .002).
• Comfort in communicating with challenging patients increased post-TTS (P < .001) but decreased after clinical practice.

Conclusions:

• Tag-teaming simulation (TTS) provides a safe and experiential method for integrating trauma-informed care (TIC) into nursing education.
• TTS can improve nursing students' understanding and comfort with TIC principles.
• Further research may explore sustaining gains post-clinical practice.