Opportunities for trauma‐informed medical care in cystic fibrosis

Abstract

People living with cystic fibrosis (PwCF) face a lifetime of potentially traumatic medical experiences. These experiences can range from invasive medical treatments (e.g., venipuncture and nasogastric tube placement) to daily illness-related events (e.g., illness-related bullying). These experiences place PwCF at high risk for a type of posttraumatic stress called medical traumatic stress (MTS). 1 With the growing recognition of the high prevalence and impact of MTS, we anticipate that cystic fibrosis care teams may soon be tasked with integrating trauma-informed medical care into their clinical practices.CF care teams are well poised to prevent and screen for MTS because they (1) create the environment for many illness-related experiences; (2) have established workflows for mental health screening; and, in many cases, (3) have trusting relationships with