Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and toxic stress are public health crises. ACEs are stressful or traumatic events experienced by age 18, identified in the landmark Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Kaiser Permanente (KP) Adverse Childhood Experiences Study, to be strongly associated with increased health and social risks. Early detection and intervention can help prevent or reduce the health risks associated with ACEs.
With our longitudinal patient relationships, family physicians have a unique opportunity to make a lasting healthcare impact by thoughtfully identifying cumulative adversity as a root cause to some of our patients’ most persistent and debilitating healthcare challenges.
Over the past year, CAFP organized a series of regionally-based, peer-to-peer learning workshops - one in each district of the state. During these online workshops, facilitators introduced ACEs screening rationale and methods, followed by peer-to-peer discussion groups on best practices, overcoming barriers to care, and practice approaches for this new screening tool.
From the learning workshops, faculty gathered key material to be recorded and provided to learners online in “bite-sized chunks” through several activities. These activities are available on the CAFP’s Homeroom platform. Chapters address trauma-informed communication techniques, building a patient’s resiliency, and a trauma-informed physical exam.
WE ARE MORE THAN OUR NUMBERS: UNDERSTANDING AND RESPONDING TO ADVERSE CHILDHOOD EXPERIENCES SCORES is on Homeroom. Learners can read one chapter at a time, complete cases, and earn 3.5 AAFP Prescribed credits, 3.5 AMA PRA Category 1TM credits and 4 California Bureau of Registered Nursing credits.
FUNDAMENTALS OF ADVERSE CHILDHOOD EXPERIENCES (ACES) SCREENING AND RESPONSE activity consists of three separate accredited sessions designed to introduce clinicians to the concepts of toxic stress and Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) as they relate to trauma-informed care. Learners who complete all three sessions can claim up to 1.50 AAFP Prescribed CME credits.
These experienced and insightful clinicians are working with CAFP on these important topics.
Childhood trauma isn’t something you just get over as you grow up. Pediatrician Nadine Burke Harris explains that the repeated stress of abuse, neglect and parents struggling with mental health or substance abuse issues has real, tangible effects on the development of the brain. This unfolds across a lifetime, to the point where those who’ve experienced high levels of trauma are at triple the risk for heart disease and lung cancer. An impassioned plea for pediatric medicine to confront the prevention and treatment of trauma, head-on.
