Reference no: EM132734308

Human trafficking is a health issue, and as such HCPs have the potential to play a critical role in human trafficking victim prevention, identification, and care. While some HT training for HCPs began over 10 years ago, most HCP are unfamiliar with how to care for trafficking survivors. The Transtheoretical Model states that awareness and knowledge precede behavior change. Furthermore, behavior change comes in stages, from pre-contemplation to action. The pinnacle of successful medical education is improved patient outcomes. Our review of National Human Trafficking Resource Center Data confirms the growing awareness of trafficking among HCPs, and possibly indicates some level of behavior change. Our interviews with HT educators demonstrate that the standardization and evidence on medical education of HT has many opportunities for growth. The field is wide open for progress to be made by scholars, clinicians, and other practitioners. Given that victims of HT will interact with a variety of clinicians throughout their care, HT training should include the whole range of HCPs. Standardization is essential to ensure that content is correct, consistent, relevant to HCPs, and effective in practice.

• Training should incorporate an evidence based, patient-centered, trauma-informed approach, with proven effectiveness. Moreover, training should incorporate orientation on gender, cultural competencies, and survivor input. Steps need to be taken to explore how such training might be integrated into settings such as health professional school curricula, residency programs, and possibly to determine whether HT training could be a requirement for licensure or re-licensure of HCPs. Identification of HT by HCPs and treatment protocols will need to be researched and funded in order to expand that evidence base. Post training evaluation must go beyond the immediate measurement of changes in knowledge and attitudes to assess for patient-centered outcomes. Metrics with indicators and targets need to be developed, field tested, and disseminated for general application where HT training is conducted. Training effectiveness measured by changed HCP behavior, along with improved patient outcomes, i.e. earlier identification of and support for HT victims, are the ultimate goals. The larger initiative is best served by the establishment of a national oversight body which has both authority and convening power. That body can guide these processes, convene forums for identifying promising practices, assist QI collaboratives, and facilitate linkages with states, academia, and professional societies, to improve HCP engagement with trafficked persons presenting in clinical settings.

Discussion 1: Describe in words what the reading is implying about the training of US health care professionals on human trafficking.