Black patients at Brigham and Women's hospital in Boston experienced higher rates of security emergency responses compared to white patients, according to a study published May 13 in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.
The retrospective cohort study — led by researchers at the hospital — examined discharges among 24,212 patients from September 2018 through December 2019. Among patients studied, 77.5 percent identified as white, 9.7 percent as Black, and 7.6 percent as Hispanic.
According to the study, 66 Black patients (2.8 percent) had security called on them during their first admission, compared to 295 (1.6 percent) of white patients. Researchers did not find significant differences between patients who identified as Hispanic and non-Hispanic.
Yannis Valtis, MD, lead author of the study and senior resident in the Brigham and Women's Division of General Internal Medicine and Primary Care, told The Boston Globe George Floyd's murder in May 2020 while in police custody prompted residents to examine the issue of race with security emergency responses. These calls for security in a patient's room occur when staff perceive a patient is a threat to themselves or others.
"A lot of our conversations had been looking outwards and saying how does police violence affect patients outside the hospital and what is our role?" Dr. Valtis told the newspaper. "We decided it was also important to turn our gaze inward, in our own hospital — [how] do we interact with patients in inequitable or unjust ways?"
The recent findings are aligned with previous studies, such as a 2018 study in a Midwestern hospital that found Black patients who had visitors were more likely to face security calls compared to white patients with visitors, according to the Globe.
The newspaper also cited a study published in 2020 and expanded on in 2021, which found Black, African-American and Hispanic patients under an involuntary mandatory emergency psychiatric evaluation hold order at Mass General Brigham emergency departments experienced more physical restraint.
Brigham and Women's, which is part of Mass General Brigham, told Becker's Dr. Valtis' study mirrors efforts that have been taking place at the hospital and Mass General Brigham to address structural racism that results in racial inequity in patient care.
One such program is a de-escalation training program run by Dana Im, MD, director of quality and safety for the Department of Emergency Medicine at Brigham and Women's. According to the Globe, the program involves review of the use of physical restraint in the emergency department, as well as training providers on methods of de-escalation and discussing steps to reduce racial bias when managing agitated patients.
According to the Globe, the emergency department study, in particular, is part of equity improvement projects happening across all 18 clinical departments as part of Mass General Brigham's United Against Racism initiative.
Read the full report here.