Identifying Human Trafficking in the Hospital via an Abuse Screening Tool.

Introduction: Healthcare professionals play a vital role in the identification and assistance of individuals affected by trafficking who are seen in the healthcare setting. The objective of this project was to analyze a screening tool with newly added questions specifically geared at human trafficking and determine its efficacy in identifying trafficked persons who were seen in the emergency department or who were inpatients.

Methods: This retrospective cohort study occurred at a large Level 1 trauma center located in the Midwest. Nursing staff administered a mandatory Abuse Risk + Human Trafficking tool. A retrospective chart review was conducted. Data from the abuse screen were reviewed from April 1, 2021, to February 28, 2023.

Results: Of all positive screens on the Abuse Risk + Human Trafficking tool, 33% were positive for at least one human trafficking question. Among those with a positive screen on the human trafficking questions, 25 screenings (20 adults, five minors) were associated with patients who had documentation highly concerning for trafficking. There were also 11 screenings with documentation highly concerning for trafficking that did not screen positive on any human trafficking questions and were positive for the non-human-trafficking questions only.

Discussion: The addition of three human trafficking questions to create the Abuse Risk + Human Trafficking tool resulted in an increase in the identification of individuals exploited by human trafficking in this hospital setting when compared with the existing Abuse Risk tool that did not have the additional human trafficking questions.