The 2024 ANPD Virtual Symposium, taking place Oct. 22, is a unique online educational event offering live and pre-recorded sessions and poster presentations. Among this year’s presenters is Heidi Gilroy, PhD, RN, NPD-BC, EBP-C, NEA-BC, with her session “What is Wrong with You? Addressing Learner Behaviors Through Trauma-Informed Professional Development.” We spoke with Gilroy ahead of her presentation to offer a glimpse into what attendees can expect.

What is trauma-informed professional development, and why is it particularly relevant for NPD practitioners today?

Nurses are skilled at providing care for patients with all types of trauma, including emotional trauma. What happens when the nurse is the one dealing with emotional trauma? It is an important question because we know that nurses are at much higher risk for trauma-related conditions than the general population. NPD practitioners are uniquely positioned to help nurses who experience trauma for two main reasons: 1) the NPD competencies we already have and 2) the frequent contact we have with nurses. That gives us a greater chance to reach the most nurses. Trauma-informed professional development is an integration of trauma-informed principles into the Nursing Professional Development Practice Model. It is a strategy to create a healing learning and practice environment where a nurse can recover after experiencing emotional trauma, which is an important goal for NPD practitioners.  

What inspired you to focus on learner behaviors that may be influenced by trauma? Have you encountered any specific challenges in this area that led you to develop this session?

Sometimes we encounter behaviors in the learning environment that make us say, “What is wrong with you?” Often these behaviors are not a sign of a “bad employee,” but really a symptom of distress. A trauma-informed approach guides us to change the question to “What happened to you?”  When we view learners and their behaviors through that lens, it can help us to take the right action. I have often seen NPD practitioners frustrated by a learner who is having challenges with behavior or barriers to learning. This session is really focused on helping NPD practitioners use practical skills to address the brain science behind trauma and enhance learning for everyone.

What evidence-based strategies will you be discussing in the session that can help NPD practitioners manage challenging learner behaviors more effectively?

There are many examples of trauma-informed education from K-12 and some examples from undergraduate nursing programs. We have been working on interventions in the clinical setting—which have shown great promise—and others are working on trauma-informed leadership in the workplace setting. We can learn from all these various best practices across disciplines to address specific learner behaviors like difficulty progressing, absenteeism, incivility, attention issues and others.

Who is your intended audience for this session? Is there a particular group that could benefit from this subject matter?

The great thing about trauma-informed approach is that it is a tool used by people in a wide variety of roles across a wide variety of settings, so any NPD practitioner in any setting can use this approach in their work. Unit-based NPD practitioners can integrate the principles of trauma-informed professional development into classes and individual interactions. NPD leaders can use it to transform large-scale education programs in facilities and systems. It is important for everyone doing the work of professional development with nurses.  

What do you hope participants will take away from your session?

My greatest hope is for participants to come away with a sense of empowerment. As NPD practitioners, we know that our learners do better when they feel confident in their skills. Sometimes it is difficult to be confident as an NPD when interacting with a learner who seems distracted and distant or one that becomes aggressive or has angry outbursts. I want participants to enter those interactions feeling confident that they know what to do and how to respond.

Dr. Gilroy’s session will be taking place on October 22 as part of the 2024 Virtual Symposium. Explore the full schedule on the ANPD website.