Integrating trauma theory and therapy into nursing practice and education.

The healthcare professions have been very slow to recognize the significance of violence and abuse in the lives of their patients. A clinical exemplar highlights the need for nurses to attend to these issues. The potential for a clinical nurse specialist to conduct research, provide education, and develop therapeutic programs designed to improve the treatment of traumatized patients is presented. Recent advances in the field of trauma, as well as the challenge to nursing to integrate this knowledge into curriculum and practice, are discussed.