Best Practices for the Gastroenterologist: Trauma-Informed Care in the Endoscopy Suite
Author Department
Gastroenterology; Medicine
Document Type
Article, Peer-reviewed
Publication Date
4-2025
Abstract
Trauma is a risk factor for several gastrointestinal illnesses, especially disorders related to the gut-brain axis. Gastroenterology (GI) care environments, particularly endoscopy units, put patients at risk of unintentional re-traumatization due to the sensitive nature of the questions, examinations, and procedures. Trauma-informed care has six pillars outlined by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration: safety, trustworthiness and transparency, peer support, collaboration and mutuality, empowerment voice and choice, and cultural historical and gender issues. Adopting these pillars for trauma-informed GI care can transform the patient and staff experience. Traumatic or potentially traumatic experiences are common, and therefore a universal trauma precautions approach is useful in a busy GI environment. There are considerations for each of the pre-, peri-, and post-procedural settings that are simple to implement, which can increase the sense of safety, trust, and autonomy for each patient in the endoscopy suite.
Keywords: Endoscopy; Patient-centered care; Trauma-informed care.
Recommended Citation
Greeff Y, Vélez C, Feld LD, Duong N. Best Practices for the Gastroenterologist: Trauma-Informed Care in the Endoscopy Suite. Dig Dis Sci. 2025 Apr 30. doi: 10.1007/s10620-025-08993-1. Epub ahead of print.
PMID
40304995