Trafficking individuals are often invisible in the health care setting. In general, health care providers often lack training for identifying and subsequently treating the person who has been trafficked. Sexual assault nurse examiners (SANE) are registered nurses who are specifically trained to provide a trauma-informed, evidence-based approach to these patients to provide a thorough and complete medical screening, assessment, examination interventions, and referrals to help identify acute and chronic illnesses and/or injuries, while empowering the patient in the decision process related to referrals and safety/psychological care. Most patients who have been trafficked do not self-report injuries/illnesses. This presentation, through case studies and national guidelines, will discuss how the SANE identifies and cares for the medical and psychological needs of the trafficked person who enters a health care facility. SANE’s are ideally trained to intervene and advocate for the trafficked patient and to subsequently provide a broad spectrum of follow up health (physical and mental) services, which will enable multi-disciplinary team (MDT) members to better serve this vulnerable population.
Allyson Cordoni is a forensic nurse practitioner who specializes in issues related to sexual assault, interpersonal violence, trafficking, and strangulation. In addition to examining thousands of adult, adolescent, and pediatric patients over her 20-year career, she also has presented at numerous conferences and training workshops around the world.