Blind Spots: Biases in Prehospital Race and Ethnicity Recording. Prehosp Emerg Care 2023;27(8):1072-1075
Date
02/04/2023Pubmed ID
36735657DOI
10.1080/10903127.2023.2175089Scopus ID
2-s2.0-85147740241 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site) 1 CitationAbstract
OBJECTIVE: Inequities have been described in areas of prehospital care ranging from pain medication administration and scene time, to stroke and cardiac arrest management. Though a critical element in understanding inequity, race and ethnicity information are often missing from the prehospital patient care report. This study aimed to characterize and understand demographic trends among records with missing race and ethnicity information.
METHODS: This before-and-after retrospective review compared patient care reports prior to and after an intervention that mandated the recording of patient race and ethnicity. Records with incomplete race and ethnicity information in the before group were evaluated to understand demographic patterns associated with this incomplete documentation.
RESULTS: Among 98,725 patient care reports, race/ethnicity in the before period as compared to the after period was less likely to be documented in nonwhite patients (p < 0.001), younger patients (p < 0.001), male patients (p < 0.001), and non-emergent transports (p < 0.001).
CONCLUSIONS: When compared to data after the implementation of mandated race and ethnicity fields, missing race and ethnicity data were found to be more common in patients of color, younger patients, males, and those transported non-emergently. Inconsistent completion of race and ethnicity documentation may lead to a poor understanding of equity issues within a system, suggesting a need for mandatory race and ethnicity fields.
Author List
Weston BWAuthor
Benjamin Weston MD, MPH Associate Professor in the Emergency Medicine department at Medical College of WisconsinMESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold
AnalgesicsBias
Emergency Medical Services
Humans
Male
Retrospective Studies
