Evaluation and assessment of an education campaign to improve hospital collection of data on patient race, ethnicity and primary language

Previous studies documented significant variations in hospital practice of collecting/reporting patient race and ethnicity data, identified many errors and misclassifications of certain categories as reported in hospital uniform discharge data set and stressed the need for standardized data collection, coding and information systems. This study reports the evaluation findings of an intensive education campaign developed to educate hospital workers on a standardized data collection process and improve the quality, accuracy and reliability of these data. The program included development of a curriculum, statewide and regional training programs and a series of educational tools and resources, such as a training manual for access managers, a reference toolkit for frontline registration workers that includes interview script and tools for staff and guides for patients in 14 languages, a video and an interactive Web-based course for registrars. All resources were developed following federal/national recommendations. To measure the effectiveness of these training/educational tools, feedback from access managers and registrars were collected through surveys and focus groups. The findings identified the extent of utilization of standardized guidelines for race/ethnicity/primary language data collection and the process changes to implement them, documented familiarity with guidelines and improvements in staff knowledge and skills and determined barriers in asking questions and collecting these data from patients. Furthermore, the study assessed the effectiveness of training resources and identified persistent needs. Improved data quality will assist hospitals to better identify patients' risks/needs, assess healthcare disparities, develop culturally appropriate services and programs and improve access and quality of care for minority/underserved populations.