“PulseCheck” is a series within CardiaCast that is designed for nurses or allied healthcare professionals who are new, or new to cardiology, offering practical team-based solutions to the challenges that nurses and allied health professionals face every day. This special series published during Mental Health Awareness Month is sponsored by ACC’s Cardiovascular Psychology Workgroup. In this episode, host Andrea Price MS, AACC brings together Kim Smolderen, PhD, FACC and Zena Samaan, MBChB, MSc, DMMD, PhD to examine trauma-informed care and the spectrum of cardiovascular conditions and health through the lens of psychology.

Related References:

1. Allan R, Scheidt SS. Empirical basis for cardiac psychology. In Allan R, Scheidt S, eds. Heart & Mind: The Practice of Cardiac Psychology Portland, Or: Book News, Inc.; 1996:63–123.
2. Burg, MM, Stewart JC. If not us, who? If not now, when? Paths forward in science, patient care, and training to maximize the impact of cardiovascular behavioral medicine. Health Psychol 2022;41:643-50.
3. Sall KE, Griffith AM Midgette EP, Winters AR, Tripp C, Nekkanti R, Sears SF. Cardiac psychology training in a rural health care setting: East Carolina Heart Institute. Health Psychol 2022;41:803-12.
4. Gaffey AE, Harris KM, Mena-Hurtado C, Sinha R, Jacoby DL, Smolderen KG. The Yale roadmap for health psychology and integrated cardiovascular care. Health Psychol 2022;41:779-91.
5. Hendrickson LCM, Neylan TC, Na B, Regan M, Zhang Q, Cohen BE. Lifetime trauma exposure and prospective cardiovascular events and all-cause mortality: findings from the Heart and Soul Study. Psychosom Med 2013;75:849-55.
6. Kuehn BM. Trauma-informed care may ease patient fear, clinician burnout. JAMA 2020;313:595-97.