An Examination of Racial Disparities in Inpatient Consultations.

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An Examination of Racial Disparities in Inpatient Consultations.

South Med J. 2020 Apr;113(4):176-182

Authors: Balter D, Bertram A, Stewart CM, Stewart RW

Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To determine whether racial disparities occurred among specialty and allied health inpatient consultations for patients admitted to adult hospital services at an academic hospital.
METHODS: A retrospective data analysis of the first 2000 patients, ages 18 years or older, admitted to an academic hospital.
RESULTS: No regression model demonstrated any statistically significant relation between race and type of inpatient consultation received. No statistically significant difference in the number of inpatient consultations was found.
CONCLUSIONS: Processes within the healthcare setting studied did not contribute to racial differences in consultation services. Our findings suggest that implicit racial bias may not be a factor when ordering consultations, but the findings are more likely affected by more appropriate factors such as the patient's age, length of stay, and complexity/severity of illness score.

PMID: 32239230 [PubMed - in process]

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