Megan Gerber, MD, MPH is a general internist with a career-long focus on the medical care of trauma-exposed women. We start out defining trauma and then get introduced to trauma-informed care.  Interfacing with the medical system and physicians can be traumatizing and triggering, so we discussed ways to minimize that, and why it actually isn’t important to identify who needs trauma informed care. We should be taking a “universal precautions” like approach.  She teaches us how to incorporate a routine of respectful care and how we can get the staff involved.  The approach to patients needs to change from questions like “what’s wrong with you?” to “what happened to you?” but this needs to happen within the confines of our time limited schedules, so Dr. Gerber teaches out how to be effective while still respecting the time of those in the waiting room.

She is currently an Associate Professor of Medicine at Boston University and Medical Director of Women’s Health at VA Boston. She holds an adjunct appointment as Lecturer on Medicine at Harvard Medical School.  Her work focuses on optimizing medical outcomes for women who have experienced trauma as well as adapting systems of care to be “trauma-informed” and sensitive to the needs of survivors.  She has authored multiple peer-reviewed publications on intimate partner violence and is the editor of the Springer book, “Trauma-informed Healthcare Approaches: A Guide for Primary Care.” She is very active on Twitter at @meggerber

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Disclaimer:

This podcast is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical, financial, or legal advice. Always consult a qualified professional for personalized guidance.