Nurse Practitioner Allyship: Strengthening Trauma-Informed POCUS Care in Rural Indigenous Communities
Keywords:
Trauma-Informed, Rural, Allyship, POCUS, Nurse Practitioner, IndigenousAbstract
Purpose: Indigenous Peoples in rural Canadian communities experience numerous health inequities related to accessing and receiving culturally safe, trauma-informed health care. Colonialism has caused systemic racism within the health care system leading to insurmountable traumas. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action and the In Plain Sight Report clearly articulate health care system changes required to ensure Indigenous people experience safe and culturally appropriate experiences at points of care. Nurse Practitioners (NPs) have dual roles of being allies that can provide culturally safe care while advocating systemic changes. Additionally, NPs can improve health care access in rural communities with the use of Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS).
Aim: The aim of this scoping review was to examine the question: How is trauma-informed care being integrated into POCUS care delivery by NPs in rural and Indigenous communities in British Columbia?
Methods: Arksey and O’Malley’s scoping review approach was used to guide this review. The five stages of this approach were: problem identification; identifying relevant studies; study selection; extracting and charting data; and finally, collating, summarizing, and reporting the results.
Findings: Twenty studies were included in this scoping review. Results found no studies between POCUS and trauma-informed care but found that ultrasound can be re-traumatizing for some patients. Trauma-informed approaches were not found to be integrated into POCUS education or guidelines. Many providers do not have trauma-informed care training, and those that have the training do not have confidence in their knowledge.
Conclusions: To improve culturally safe approaches to POCUS implementation, this paper recommends increased funding to support rural NP certification for POCUS, completion of mandatory cultural safety and trauma-informed care training, and that institutions offering POCUS training embed trauma informed approaches to POCUS application within their curricula.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.14574/ojrnhc.v26i1.807Downloads
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Copyright (c) 2026 Jaime Piner RN, BScN, MN-NP Student, Sheila Blackstock, RN, BScN, MScN, COHN, FCNEI, PhD, Lisa Creelman, DNP, MScN, NP
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