331399
Human Trafficking Health System Protocol Development: A Tale of Two Coasts
Wednesday, November 4, 2015
: 10:54 a.m. - 11:06 a.m.
Hanni Stoklosa, MD, MPH,
Emergency Medicine Department; Connors Center for Women's Health & Gender Biology; FXB Center for Health and Human Rights, Brigham and Women's Hospital; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
Gayle Haberman, MPH,
Office of Planning, Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, Los Angeles, CA
Human trafficking victims are a particularly vulnerable population passing through US healthcare settings. However, most health systems are ill-equipped to identify and respond to victims. Boston, Massachusetts and Los Angeles County, California have undertaken processes to improve the health system response. Boston has addressed trafficking by convening stakeholders on a large scale, resulting in a framework that impacts multiple healthcare settings in their geographical catchment area. Champions in Boston approached protocol development by 1) researching the legal and healthcare landscape 2) mapping stakeholders including human trafficking survivors, social service providers, law enforcement' the attorney general's office, relevant government officials, health facility clinicians, and security personnel 3) convening stakeholders iteratively and building consensus. After developing a human trafficking healthcare framework, individual healthcare setting champions were identified in order to adopt and adapt the protocol for various hospitals, community health clinics, etc in the catchment area. In Los Angeles County, comprised of 88 different cities, the initial approach to systematically addressing human trafficking has focused on commercially sexually exploited children (CSEC). The Department of Public Health has convened stakeholders from 8 Public Health programs that work with high-risk youth, along with representatives from the 8 district offices around the County; has consulted legal experts and survivor advocates; and partnered with Juvenile Court Health Services. In both Boston and LA County, successful adoption of protocols involves widespread education of providers in clinical settings, ongoing survivor input, approval by clinical administration, bolstering of trauma-informed care-systems, and integration of longitudinal quality assurance processes. Common pitfalls encountered in the protocol development process will be described.
Learning Areas:
Administration, management, leadership
Program planning
Public health administration or related administration
Public health or related organizational policy, standards, or other guidelines
Systems thinking models (conceptual and theoretical models), applications related to public health
Learning Objectives:
Describe the development of human trafficking healthcare protocols in two distinct geographic regions: Los Angeles County California and Boston, Massachusetts.
Identify common pitfalls in developing a human trafficking healthcare protocol
Formulate a human trafficking healthcare protocol framework for your geographic
Keyword(s): Hospitals, Sexual Assault
Presenting author's disclosure statement:Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am an emergency medicine physician, and public health trained researcher. I am co-founder and steering committee member of HEAL Trafficking. I have led other national organizations, including the International Federation of Medical Students Associations-USA, and University Coalition for Global Health. I have conducted research on gender based violence and human trafficking in multiple international settings.
Any relevant financial relationships? No
I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines,
and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed
in my presentation.
