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ObjectiveHealthcare providers have key roles in the prevention of, detection of, and interventions for human trafficking. Yet caring for trafficked persons is particularly challenging: patients whose identities are unknown, unreliable, or false could receive subpar care from providers delivering care in a vacuum of relevant information. The application of precision medicine principles and integration of biometric data (including genetic information) could facilitate patient identification, enable longitudinal medical records, and improve continuity and quality of care for this vulnerable patient population. Scant empirical data exist regarding healthcare system preparedness and care for the needs of this vulnerable population nor data on perspectives on the use and risks of biometrics or genetic information for trafficked patients.MethodsTo address this gap, we conducted mixed-methods research involving semi-structured interviews with key informants, which informed a subsequent broad survey of physicians and registered nurses.ResultsOur findings support the perception that trafficked persons obtain care yet remain unnoticed or undocumented in the electronic health record. Our survey findings further reveal that healthcare providers remain largely unaware of human trafficking issues and are inadequately prepared to provide patient-centered care for trafficked and unidentified patients.ConclusionMeaningful efforts to design and implement precision medicine initiatives in an inclusive way that optimizes impacts are unlikely to succeed without concurrent efforts to increase general awareness of and preparedness to care for trafficked persons. Additional research is needed to examine properly the potential utility for biometrics to improve the delivery of care for trafficked patients.

This article evaluates and synthesizes research and literature from the social sciences, in order to theorize a much neglected area, same sex partnership bereavement. Traditional psychological theories of bereavement are analysed and critiqued, alongside sociological insights not only related to death, dying and grief, but to stigma, emotion work and invoked notions of contamination and pollution. Mainstream psychological theories of bereavement are exposed as being inherently flawed unless modified in relation to `disenfranchised grief'. This concept bridges sociological and psychological understandings, and can also accommodate the potential impact of historical and contemporary oppression on people of diverse sexualities. Traditional identity and postmodern `queer' perspectives, related to sexuality, are also incorporated in order to avoid homogenizing the experiences of people bereaved within same sex relationships and to make explicit both diversity and similarity. Overall, the article demonstrates how and why bereaved gay people may be particularly at risk of stigmatized and disenfranchised grief, whilst simultaneously highlighting the need for more empirical and theoretical attention to be paid to this important issue.

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The EMFIT bed alarm appears to be a valuable adjunct to safety systems. Within the novel environment of the SEC it is possible to maintain a response time to GTCS that is comparable to hospital based UK video telemetry units.