IN THIS EPISODE
How do common American hospital practices traumatize patients and nurses? What experiences erode trust between the sick and their healers? Join host Brenda Gazzar and Kathy Allan, RN and board-certified holistic nurse, for unique insights into healthcare-acquired trauma and what we can do about it. Her years of training in PTSD and Developmental Trauma, combined with her experience working as a nurse at a major California hospital, inspired her to create a program to address systemic trauma in health care. How can hospitals restore a sense of confidence among patients and nurses that their needs will be met? Where can nurses and other providers learn strategies to release trauma? How could Medicare for All make a positive difference, not just in the patient experience but also in the community?
SHOW NOTES
WE DISCUSS
Tell us about your nursing experience.
“I’ve been a nurse for a very, very long time. I started out my nursing career before managed care, before the for-profit industry took over health care. I’ve had experience in practically every area of nursing. My favorite area was to work in psych and most of my experiences are either in psych or in chemical dependency…” – Kathy Allan, RN, HN-BC
How has the pandemic affected nurses, specifically?
“I’m hearing all the stories…about nurses being burned out and exhausted, and then being called heroes for the way that they’re working and it occurred to me that the terms burned out and exhausted are really cover words for abuse and exploitation, and that calling nurses heroes is really a cover word for violence against women.” – Kathy Allan, RN, HN-BC
What do you think is the root cause of healthcare-acquired trauma?
“When I first started out, I thought healthcare-acquired trauma probably meant things that nurses do that traumatize patients. And then I thought about it a little more deeply and I thought, ‘No, no, it’s the system, it’s the healthcare system that traumatizes patients.’… What we have right now is health care’s love affair with suffering for profit”. – Kathy Allan, RN, HN-BC
Tell us about your program, Trauma-Free Nursing.
“…not only do I talk about health care, how the system traumatizes patients and staff, but…I interview four proponents of cutting-edge treatments for trauma, and these treatments are not therapy, but they are tools that you can use on yourself to settle your nervous system and to release some of the trauma that’s in your system. Nurses can also develop programs where they are offering these tools to their patients, either while they’re in the hospital or as part of discharge planning, or as part of home care after they go home…” – Kathy Allan, RN, HN-BC
Helpful Links
Trauma-Free Nursing, Kathy Allan, RN, HN-BC, HTCP/I, SEP
Medical Trauma, International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies
Why Creating a Trauma-Informed Environment is Crucial to Helping Traumatized Nurses Heal, Health Leaders Media
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Nursing, Norwich University Online
Healthcare Workers in Crisis, Efforts Toward Normalizing a Sustainable Workplace Culture, Health Affairs
Episode Transcript
Read the full episode transcript.
Guest Biography
Click to learn more about Kathy Allan.
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