Reference no: EM132733998

Article: Combating Human Trafficking

• Nurses and other health care providers who encounter victims of trafficking often don't realize it, and opportunities to intervene are lost. Although no one sign can demonstrate with certainty when someone is being trafficked, there are several indicators that clinicians should know. This article provides an overview of human trafficking, describes how to recognize signs that a person is being trafficked and how to safely intervene, and offers an extensive resource list.

How to recognize a victim of trafficking

• Nurses and other clinicians who encounter a person who's being trafficked probably won't realize it. There are several reasons for this. Trafficking victims are in no position to step forward, identify themselves as such, and ask for help. Although no one sign can demonstrate with certainty that someone is being trafficked, there are several indicators that nurses and other clinicians should be aware of.

KNOWING HOW TO INTERVENE

• When trying to discern whether someone is a trafficking victim, it's essential to talk with the person alone, in a place where no one else can overhear the conversation. Asking a suspected victim questions in the presence of her or his trafficker is unproductive and could make matters worse. It's important for anyone questioning a suspected victim to have patience-and to understand that getting the entire story isn't the point at this time. Indeed, the World Health Organization has published a manual on how to interview trafficked women to ensure that they aren't further traumatized (many of the recommendations are also applicable to men).

• Regardless of the setting and the suspected victim's place of birth, much of what we need to know in order to approach and intervene effectively is the same. The clinician's primary concerns must be to prioritize and treat the person's health problems and to ensure her or his safety. Once these needs have been met, if trafficking is suspected, the nurse and others on the health care team can then proceed to assess the situation.

• It's never too soon to start thinking about how you and your facility will handle a potential trafficking situation. Encourage your facility's administration to address the issue of human trafficking by providing education and training to nursing and medical staff and establishing policies and procedures for cases in which trafficking is suspected or known.

Other things that you can do include the following:

1. Stay informed by reading about human trafficking and learning more about local and national efforts to address the issue. Provide trafficking literature to others on staff
2. Prepare small palm-sized cards with instructions in several languages for calling the NHTRC hot line number and local law enforcement that you can give to suspected victims. Hang posters with such information in places victims might see them, such as outpatient clinics, EDs, and facility bath rooms.
3. Reach out to professionals in other disciplines at your facility. Talk with people involved in anti-trafficking efforts in your community, as well as with local law enforcement personnel. Find out what's going on in your state.
4. There is a lack of direct services for trafficking victims; in this country, for example, more residential treatment facilities and better mental health services are needed. No single program addresses all of a victim's needs; a trained professional must spend time piecing together services from various sources, which may or may not be available locally. Nurses can help by advocating more direct services for trafficking victims, offered at centralized locations where victims have access to the full range of such services.

Problem 1: Summarize the article and the importance of intervening.

Problem 2: Why is it important for other non healthcare settings to be trained on intervening and the reporting of human trafficking?