Human Trafficking Awareness Among First Year Medical Students

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2020

Authors

Smith, Michael
Taskov, Viktoria

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Purpose: Human Trafficking is an exceedingly prevalent problem in today's society. Unfortunately, this issue is also not well publicized or commonly known among the general population. Studies have estimated that anywhere between 50-80% of human trafficking victims will seek medical attention while being trafficked. This provides an important opportunity for the medical community to play a critical role in identifying potential victims and interrupting the cycle of trafficking. An initial step to empower the medical community is to increase awareness and education of future health practitioners. Thus, this study aims to assess the pre-existing knowledge that future medical professionals have on the topic. Methods: A survey was administered to XX first-year medical students that focused on individual's knowledge of the scope of the trafficking problem. Results: The data indicate three areas of significant knowledge deficits about trafficking including a lack of 1) confidence in identifying a victim of human trafficking, 2) knowledge of the correct avenues to help these people when identified, and 3) awareness of the likelihood that they will encounter one of these patients in their future practice. Conclusion: Continuation of this and/or similar surveys will enhance the awareness of the problem among future physicians, and help to identify areas of need for education of future physicians.

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