Since the Women’s Fund was founded in 1990, working to create communities free from gender-based violence has been central to our work. We have published research reports featuring the local impact to survivors and our communities; funded organizations and service providers who meet the daily needs of those who experience gender-based violence; and worked to improve systems and train those who interact with survivors to center those most impacted.
Now more than ever, we recognize the importance of survivor-led programs, programs that center those most impacted by gender-based violence, and programs using a restorative and transformative justice framework. One of our most powerful programs as part of our Freedom From Violence initiative is our medical elective. Through this program, we help to train future health care providers to recognize, respond to and care for survivors of gender-based violence.
It’s important to allow patients to feel safe with you as a doctor. Build rapport so they feel they can trust you and disclose what is going on.
In partnership with the University of Nebraska Medical Center and Creighton University, fourth-year medical students work with local health and social service providers to learn how to provide trauma-informed, compassionate care to survivors. This training program is necessary as medical providers are sometimes the first person a survivor interacts with following violence. How they care for a patient could be the difference between healing or further traumatization.
The Medical Elective program includes 16 modules led by local service organizations who work directly with survivors at various stages of the sexual assault/domestic violence cases. Module topics include information about forensic nurse examinations, working with law enforcement, direct service options like housing and safety plans, and experiencing the judicial system. Medical students also learn perspectives from immigrant and refugee communities who experience gender-based violence within different cultural norms.
I learned that each individual’s response to trauma will be different and someone may not present in one specific manner. It is crucial to ask every patient I am working with questions related to intimate partner violence and sexual assault as it can be happening to anyone.
The culmination of the elective includes two parts—the Standardized Patient “test,” and a Mock Trial in an actual courtroom with a real judge and attorneys. The Standardized Patient test gives students the opportunity to interact with a patient who has been impacted by domestic violence (a paid actor), so they have simulated practice with how to navigate these potentially challenging interactions while validating survivor experiences and creating a sense of safety. The Mock Trial gives students the simulated experience of testifying as an expert witness for a domestic violence trial.
The elective allowed me to explore many nuances and specific barriers that individual survivors and victims might be dealing with that I wasn’t aware of before. Specifically, I feel like my understanding about barriers, such as finances and immigration, can play a huge role in making it difficult for victims to seek help. It helped me as a healthcare professional to become aware of things I can discuss with my patient to connect them with help.
Across our communities, domestic violence and domestic abuse related deaths are increasing while funding continues to decrease. Through our Freedom from Violence initiative, we continue to find creative and effective ways to expand access to vital services for survivors while building capacity among organizations who offer direct support. We are creating a future where survivors are supported and healthcare providers are prepared to respond. Through the Medical Elective, future medical providers leave the program equipped to make a real difference in clinics and hospitals across the state.
I really think the biggest thing I’ve learned is that anyone, truly anyone, can be experiencing domestic violence intimate partner violence and/or sexual assault. We often have a picture in our minds of those who might be the most vulnerable, but I need to be more aware of the possibility in every patient I see.