Trauma Informed Care

In this episode of the Better Edge podcast, Traci A. Kurtzer, MD, medical director of Trauma-Informed Care and Education in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Northwestern Medicine, discusses trauma-informed care and goals for the department in training and education. She describes the signs and techniques physicians should know to identify and approach a patient who has experienced trauma.

Dr. Kurtzer has more than 25 years of clinical experience in menopause, sexual medicine and vulvovaginal conditions. She is a certified menopause practitioner of the North American Menopause Society, a member of the International Society for the Study of Vulvovaginal Disease and of the National Vulvodynia Association. She won the Certified Menopause Practitioner of the Year Award in 2019 by the North American Menopause Society. She is a founding member of the Healthcare Committee of the Cook County Human Trafficking Task Force and a member of the Trauma-Informed Hospital Collaborative. She is the President-elect for the American Medical Women’s Association- Physicians Against the Trafficking of Humans (AMWA- PATH), on the Gun Violence Prevention steering committee for Doctors for America and is a former President of the Chicago Gynecological Society. Dr. Kurtzer trains medical professionals on Intimate Partner Violence, Human Trafficking, the Neurobiology of Trauma, Trauma Informed Care and the intersection of gender based violence and firearm violence