Traumatic Stress in
Nursing Education
What is Traumatic Stress?
-
Traumatic stress is an intense form of stress that can result from exposure to a singular, isolated traumatic event or an ongoing series of traumatic events that can affect emotional, psychological, and physical dimensions
​
-
Traumatic event(s) are characterized as singular or repeated exposure to actual or threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violence; this can result from directly experiencing a traumatic event or witnessing a traumatic event experienced by another, including the context of one’s work or education
Compared to the general population, nursing students regularly exposed to trauma, especially those working in Emergency Room and ICU settings, report experiencing symptoms consistent with traumatic stress at much higher rates. Additionally, when students face other sources of trauma outside their academic experience, such as poverty, abuse, life-threatening illnesses, limited access to quality education, death in the family, or natural disasters, they risk experiencing higher degrees of exhaustion, which acts as a gateway to traumatic stress.
Traumatic Stress Disorders
Causes + Contributing Factors of Traumatic Stress in
Nursing Education
Predictors of traumatic stress included low empathy, low resilience, high levels of passive coping, age, fewer sleep hours, and low compassion satisfaction. (Oakley et al., 2024)
Effects of Traumatic Stress on Nursing Students
