Faculty mentor/PI email address
kleinle@rowan.edu
Keywords
secondary traumatic stress, compassion fatigue, burnout, medical students, medical trainees, knowledge
Date of Presentation
5-6-2026 12:00 AM
Poster Abstract
Secondary Traumatic Stress (STS) has been positively correlated with burnout in healthcare professionals through numerous studies. It is defined as the natural consequent behaviors and emotions resulting from knowing about a traumatizing event experienced by another individual. Medical students experience high level of STS due to exposure to trauma during multiple clinical rotations. Child Abuse Research Education and Service (CARES) Institute treats children who have experiences of abuse, neglect, and other forms of trauma. As part of the current curriculum, Rowan SOM students rotate at the CARES Institute for at least a day for up to a month and might face additional STS during the encounters. The goal of this research is to summarize current knowledge of STS in medical students that will help guide further development to help medical students who rotate through the CARES Institute learn how to process STS early on in their training. Systematic search on PubMed focusing on STS in medical students was performed from year 2000 to 2025. A total of 10 papers were identified at the end, and their findings were organized in a table format by study type. Overall findings confirmed that medical students experience secondary traumatic stress during rotations. There is limited research available on medical student knowledge and awareness of STS and the effects it has on them immediately and in their future such as choice of residency program. One of the future directions will be to create a survey to assess the knowledge of STS in medical students rotating through the CARES Institute.
Disciplines
Behavior and Behavior Mechanisms | Medical Education | Medicine and Health Sciences
Assessing Medical Trainees Knowledge of Secondary Traumatic Stress Before and After Clinical Experiences at the CARES Institute: A Literature Review
Secondary Traumatic Stress (STS) has been positively correlated with burnout in healthcare professionals through numerous studies. It is defined as the natural consequent behaviors and emotions resulting from knowing about a traumatizing event experienced by another individual. Medical students experience high level of STS due to exposure to trauma during multiple clinical rotations. Child Abuse Research Education and Service (CARES) Institute treats children who have experiences of abuse, neglect, and other forms of trauma. As part of the current curriculum, Rowan SOM students rotate at the CARES Institute for at least a day for up to a month and might face additional STS during the encounters. The goal of this research is to summarize current knowledge of STS in medical students that will help guide further development to help medical students who rotate through the CARES Institute learn how to process STS early on in their training. Systematic search on PubMed focusing on STS in medical students was performed from year 2000 to 2025. A total of 10 papers were identified at the end, and their findings were organized in a table format by study type. Overall findings confirmed that medical students experience secondary traumatic stress during rotations. There is limited research available on medical student knowledge and awareness of STS and the effects it has on them immediately and in their future such as choice of residency program. One of the future directions will be to create a survey to assess the knowledge of STS in medical students rotating through the CARES Institute.