January 31, 2020

Student becomes teacher in developing lifesaving human trafficking curriculum

By Karl Oestreich

ABC News
by Dr. John Smith

"In our review, we only found a few publications looking at best practices to integrate human trafficking information into the curriculum," said Dr. Juliana Kling, senior author and a physician of internal medicine within the division of women’s health at the Mayo Clinic. "We were really focused on the sex trafficking, specifically on identification and intervention for victims of sex trafficking."…This led a medical student at Mayo Clinic in Arizona to work with faculty and staff to develop a curriculum targeted to health care professionals to help identify and provide resources to victims of human trafficking According to Jennifer Talbott, a third-year medical student at Mayo Clinic in Arizona, "I felt that something had to be done. It was surprising that it wasn’t that much out there to train people taking care of patients with an issue so important, like human trafficking. There was this big hole that no one had quite filled yet."

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Context: Human trafficking is a growing international public health concern. An estimated 400,000 people in the U.S. are affected, with as many as 88% of victims having seen a health care professional while they were being trafficked.

As human trafficking evolves as a health concern, medical schools are starting to include the topic in education. However, it’s still in the early stages, says a Mayo Clinic study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. The research was led by third-year medical student at Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine, Jennifer Talbott, who suggested that human trafficking training be included in the curriculum at the school.

You can read more about the study on Mayo Clinic News Network.

Contact: Ashley Peck

Tags: ABC News, Dr. Juliana Kling, human trafficking, Jennifer Talbott, Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine, Uncategorized

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