Zangerle urges hospitals to make human trafficking a priority

In an interview with AHA Today, AONL member Claire Zangerle, DNP, RN, chief nurse executive at Allegheny Health Network and an American Hospital Association (AHA) board member, urged health care leaders to recognize human trafficking exists in their communities and take action to provide person-centered care to its victims. “Hospitals don’t have to reinvent the wheel or create things from scratch,” Zangerle, a former AONL board member, told AHA Today. “Both AHA and AONL have many free resources on their websites, including best practices, evidence-based interventions and [links to] national as well as community-based groups that assist victims.” Zangerle has been a leader of AHA’s Hospitals Against Violence initiative, which is fighting human trafficking by highlighting leading practices and connecting health leaders with evidence-based interventions and protocols. The AHA also advocates for the use of ICD-10 codes related to assisting patients affected by human trafficking in order to generate data that can provide insights into the practice. (AHA Today story, 1/7/20)