Feasibility of a screening tool for sex trafficking in an adult emergency department
Date
2021
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Academic emergency medicine
Abstract
Background: Human trafficking (HT) is a human rights violation and public health
issue. People with a history of HT are likely to see a physician during their exploitation. A screening tool was developed and implemented in a busy urban emergency
department (ED) to aid in the identification of this population.
Objective: The objective was to retrospectively assess a HT screening tool implemented in an urban ED and evaluate the feasibility of the tool as a component of
standard emergency care.
Methods: This was a retrospective observational study conducted at an urban adult
ED after the implementation of an original 11-item HT screening tool. Adult patients
18 years and older were screened based on high-risk chief complaints, “red flag” risk
factors, or provider gestalt. All patients with a positive screen were offered the opportunity to speak to a social worker, who then determined the patients’ likely trafficking status. Data analysis was performed on this group of patients.
Results: A total of 26,974 patients were screened in the ED during 2019. Of these
patients, 189 of them had a positive screen. A total of 37 patients were confirmed to
have a likely sex trafficking status based on the federal definition. Eight of these patients elected to go to a community partner safe house. Positive responses to eight of
the questions were significantly associated with likely sex trafficking status. Through
regularized regression analysis, the predictive power of the screen was found to be
derived from seven of the questions.
Conclusion: Through the implementation of this screening tool, providers in a busy
urban ED were able to identify patients with an experience of sex trafficking and offer
them resources using a trauma-informed approach. This study demonstrates the feasibility of implementation of screening in the ED and identifies seven of the questions
used as predictive of likely sex trafficking.
Description
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Article
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Keywords
sex trafficking, screening tool, hospital, emergency care
Citation
Kaltiso, S. A. O., Greenbaum, V. J., Moran, T. P., Osborne, A. D., Korniotes, J., Marazzi, G., & Clery, M. (2021). Feasibility of a screening tool for sex trafficking in an adult emergency department. Academic emergency medicine, 28(12), 1399-1408.