Collection of patient race, ethnicity, and language data in emergency departments: a national survey

Purpose There is mounting evidence of racial and ethnic discrimination in the Canadian health care system. Patient level race and ethnicity data are required to identify potential disparities in clinical outcomes and access to health care. However, it is not known what patient race, ethnicity, and language data are collected by Canadian hospitals. This gap limits opportunities to identify and address inequalities in the health care system. The emergency department (ED) is a major point of contact for many patients accessing the health care system, and is therefore a reasonable place to conduct analysis of patient data collection. This study aims to quantify the proportion of Canadian EDs that collect patient race, ethnicity, and primary language data. Methods We identified all Canadian EDs and distributed a survey to 616 EDs across the country. Results We received responses representing 202 EDs (32.8%). One fifth (20.3%) of responding EDs reported that they collected race and ethnicity data and 38.1% collected primary language data. Reported uses for these data included quality improvement, research, and direct patient care. Conclusion The majority of Canadian EDs do not collect patient race, ethnicity, and language data. This gap limits our ability to identify inequalities in health outcomes or access to health care. Lack of race, ethnicity, and language data also hinders our ability to develop and evaluate programs and interventions that aim to correct these inequalities.