SHM Converge Scientific Abstract ePoster Gallery-Racial Distribution of Patients Allocated to Shared Versus Single Beds

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This retrospective observational study examined whether patients at a large suburban academic center were unequally distributed between private and shared hospital rooms from January to May 2021. Researchers analyzed 9,527 eligible discharges out of 11,621 total, evaluating race, sex, language, age, insurance type, and clinical service using binary logistic regression.<br /><br />Unadjusted results suggested disparities: non-white, female, and non-English-speaking patients were more likely to be assigned to shared rooms. Specifically, Asian and Black patients were more likely than White patients to be discharged from shared rooms. However, after adjusting for other factors, race itself was no longer associated with room assignment. Instead, male patients and surgical patients were more likely to be discharged from private rooms.<br /><br />The authors concluded that the observed racial differences in room assignment may be explained by differences in service line placement, such as whether patients were admitted to subspecialty services or general medicine. They note that this finding warrants further investigation to understand how hospital processes and service assignment may influence patient outcomes and contribute to structural inequities within hospitals.<br /><br />A key limitation was the lack of ethnicity data, which may have obscured differences affecting Latinx patients, some of whom may have been categorized as “other.”

Asset Subtitle

Christine Santiago

Meta Tag

Author List Allen J. Orsi, Christine Santiago, David Crichton, Lisa Shieh, Paul A. Heidenreich

Category Research

Concept Racial Distribution

Concept Room Assignment

Concept Race

Concept Retrospective Observational Cohort Study

Concept Shared Hospital Room

Distinguished Non-Finalist

Presenter Organization Division of Hospital Medicine, Department of Medicine, Stanford University

Presenting Author Christine Santiago

Track Quality Improvement

Keywords

hospital room assignment

shared rooms

private rooms

retrospective observational study

racial disparities

binary logistic regression

patient demographics

service line placement

structural inequities

hospital outcomes

Racial Distribution

Room Assignment

Race

Retrospective Observational Cohort Study

Shared Hospital Room