My pre-existing thoughts of Human Trafficking are very slim. I know that it happens in our area and all around the world, but I do not know enough information about it. I believe that people suffer from human trafficking everyday and that human trafficking is something that goes unnoticed often. It is a good idea to be educated on it, so that we can potentially stop it from happening in the future. Human trafficking is something that can happen to especially to women and children of all races, ethnicity, age.  After hearing the guest speaker today, I realized that it is not only in this area, but it is pretty prevalent here. I have taken my preexisting thoughts and broadened my understanding of the concept of human trafficking. I learned that victims of human trafficking may not even realize that they are in a bad situation, or that they are in harms way. They may think that the person trafficking them or their pimp(s) is the only person that loves or cares for them due to brainwashing. Victims of human trafficking can be held against their will for a long period of time. It doesn’t always mean it is against their will, their actions portray the traffickers next move in some cases, such as “if you don’t do this, I will hurt your family.” I would like to know more about the number of resources for people in this position or for survivors. I feel like the numbers do not align, and that there are many more cases of sex/human trafficking and not enough resources to help them.

For my future practice, I would like to keep an open mind that any one of my patients could be a victim or survivor of human trafficking. It is important to realize some of the warning signs that you may observe when seeing a patient of this nature. The patient may be anxious, avoiding things such as eye contact. Many times, you will see the trafficker, speak up for the patient when questions are asked or during your assessment and they will want to be with the patient at every moment in time. In other words, they don’t want the nurse and the patient to be alone for any point of time or for any reason. Another important thing to look at is if the patient has any unfamiliar tattoos, one example is a barcode, this could indicate that they have been branded by someone aka the trafficker. When I do suspect a patient is the victim, I will proceed cautiously so that I do not make it known that I know to the trafficker. I will try to provide the victim with resources as long as it will not create more harm.