Watts, a recent UF Nursing Doctor of Nursing Practice graduate, is encouraged by the results but disturbed by the prevalence of trafficking, which impacts thousands annually in the U.S. Florida ranks among the top states affected.

“You see the posters and feel bad, but you don’t think it’s in your backyard. But it is. More and more, it’s happening to kids. In many cases it’s a family member doing the trafficking,” Watts said.

With support from UF College of Nursing faculty, Baptist Health, and EPIC Systems, Watts worked on a team that developed a screening tool in the EPIC electronic health record that flags potential trafficking victims through behavioral and physical indicators.

“Observation is critical,” Watts said, highlighting the importance of assessing a patient’s actions, hygiene, tattoos, and possessions.

UF DNP students must develop research projects addressing weighty issues. Watts said her project came about after her supervisor at Baptist Health returned from a conference highlighting human trafficking.

“I thought this would be the perfect project to help shed light on such a heartbreaking issue,” she said.

During the project period in late spring, nurses identified five victims, including children, and police arrested three suspected traffickers in North Florida. The screening tool is available in the EPIC system for use by any provider with access.

“This was a rock star project. A DNP project is about the big picture. How do you improve care for the larger group? Katelyn did that and hit it out of the park,” said Rene Love, PhD, DNP, PMHNP-BC, FNAP, FAANP, FAAN, associate dean of academic affairs for graduate clinical education.

Dean Shakira Henderson, PhD, DNP, MS, MPH, EMBA, IBCLC, RNC-NIC, said the project is just one example of big-impact work done by the college’s students and guided by faculty.

“At the UF College of Nursing, we empower our students to tackle society’s most pressing issues and find ways to enhance well-being on all fronts,” Henderson said. “Katelyn embodies our core mission of Care. Lead. Inspire. By adapting nursing assessment skills and technology to combat human trafficking, her project has brought focus to this unfortunate problem. We look forward to exploring her work further and evaluating its integration with UF’s clinical systems.”

While many DNPs are involved in direct patient care. They also focus on health care leadership and developing systemwide improvements through research. The UF DNP program is consistently among the top in the state.

Watts recently began her DNP career in a Jacksonville pediatric emergency room and will continue her work to combat human trafficking.

“This is something you have to keep mindful of all the time,” she said.