Hospitals to query patients on race, sexual orientation

Balancing the need for better information to inform care decisions and concerns about people being asked to provide information is always a challenge.

But my bias is towards better information, and the few times that it has come up with my doctors, their line is “nothing is more costly than ignorance.”

More specialized information and linkages than from the Census and NHS:

Marylin Kanee, director of human rights and health equity at Mount Sinai, said properly training staff is key to ensuring patients feel comfortable with the survey and understand the information will be used to improve medical care. Researchers will not be given names of patients. Responses will be aggregated and analyzed to detect differences in health outcomes connected to variables such as race, language and poverty.

“This is information that will help us to tailor the care that we provide to our patients,” Ms. Kanee said. “It will give us information about who are patients are and it will help us to really understand where the inequities are.”

At St. Michael’s Hospital, Fok-Han Leung has experienced the benefits of having greater demographic information at his fingertips. Data collection was tested at the hospital’s family medicine outpatient clinic, with responses gathered on tablets. The information was then instantly linked to a patient’s file.

Seeing a patient’s income, for example, helped inform Dr. Leung’s prescription decisions. In some cases, a shorter medication supply and monitoring the drug’s effectiveness was more prudent than a costly 90-day prescription.

“It can sometimes help with diagnosis, but it very much helps with [care] management,” Dr. Leung said.

Patient participation in Toronto Central’s questionnaire has been strong so far: 85 per cent. At St. Joseph’s, Mike Heenan, vice-president responsible for quality and patient experience, said he’s heard from a few staff opposed to the hospital participating in the project. But he notes 95 per cent of 14,954 presurgery patients have answered the questionnaire, while only eight have registered concerns.

Hospitals to query patients on race, sexual orientation – The Globe and Mail.