Promoting health equity for deaf patients through the electronic health record.
Tyler G JamesMeagan K SullivanJoshua D ButlerMichael M McKeePublished in: Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association : JAMIA (2021)
Language status can be conceptualized as an equity-relevant variable, particularly for non-English-speaking populations. Deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) individuals who use American Sign Language (ASL) to communicate comprise one such group and are understudied in health services research. DHH individuals are at high-risk of receiving lower-quality care due to ineffective patient-provider communication. This perspective outlines barriers to health equity research serving DHH ASL-users due to systems developed by large-scale informatics networks (eg, the Patient-Centered Clinical Outcomes Research Network), and institutional policies on self-serve cohort discovery tools. We list potential to help adequate capture of language status of DHH ASL-users to promote health equity for this population.
Keyphrases
- public health
- healthcare
- electronic health record
- global health
- mental health
- end stage renal disease
- autism spectrum disorder
- cerebral blood flow
- chronic kidney disease
- ejection fraction
- newly diagnosed
- small molecule
- prognostic factors
- peritoneal dialysis
- palliative care
- health promotion
- high throughput
- deep learning
- chronic pain