About this Research Topic
Emergency departments (ED) play an integral role in providing healthcare. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated many pre-existing healthcare inequities and has had an enormous toll on healthcare systems worldwide. There are unprecedented rates of burnout among frontline physicians, nurses, and allied health professionals, and extraordinarily stressful work environments due to staff shortages and underfunded health care systems. Equity-deserving groups (EDGs), those who face significant challenges participating in society due to attitudinal, historic, social, and environmental barriers based on age, ethnicity, disability, economic status, gender, race, and/or sexual orientation, are known to more frequently access and rely upon emergency care, particularly in settings where access to primary care is limited. Equity-deserving groups also disproportionately report experiencing inadequate and stigmatizing emergency care including feelings of judgement/disrespect by emergency staff, lack of communication, and that their medical issues were not taken seriously. These negative ED care experiences are likely further exacerbated by over-burdened and short-staffed emergency departments.
In the post-pandemic health care climate, research on the health disparities of emergency care access, utilization, treatment, care coordination, and quality of care for equity-deserving populations is needed more than ever. Evidence that advances our understanding of the interplay between the social determinants of health and emergency care experiences at the patient, provider, institutional and community levels are needed. Further, research on novel interventions at the intrapersonal (patient), interpersonal (patient and provider) and/or structural (institutional) levels to address and attain equity is essential. Additionally, we need evidence from innovative medical educational curricula and training on health advocacy, the social determinants of health, cultural competency, and ways of addressing deeply ingrained unconscious bias. This special issue of Frontiers in Disaster and Emergency Medicine is purposely broad and seeks to publish work centering on equity in emergency care, with application of a wide range of theories and methodologies, including mixed-methods approaches, participatory action research and multi-level interventions, and evaluation at multiple levels in the patient care pathway through to public health and health policy.
For this Research Topic we are particularly interested in contributions that:
• Evaluate disparities in emergency care access, utilization, wait times, treatment, care coordination, discharge, quality of care, patient satisfaction, among others.
• Explore under-researched areas among equity-deserving populations including those who identify as: Indigenous; persons with a disability (physical, sensory, or intellectual); persons facing mental health concerns; unhoused persons; persons with substance use disorders; 2SLGBTQ+; BIPOC; refugees/immigrants; older patients; among others.
• Describe and/or evaluate innovative methodological approaches to emergency care health equity, including use of mixed qualitative/quantitative methodologies or longitudinal research, community-based and/or participatory action research, interventional studies, quality improvement and patient safety studies, among others.
• Explore emergency care perceptions from multiple stakeholders, including patients, providers, hospital administrators, community service providers, policy makers, among others.
• Evaluate health equity at the public policy, health policy level.
• Synthesize existing evidence related to health equity in emergency care.
• Describe research co-design and knowledge translation approaches between emergency departments, community-based organizations who support members of equity-deserving groups, and historically marginalized populations.
• Describe and/or evaluate medical education initiatives and/or curricula for health advocacy and learning opportunities for residents and trainees on the social determinants of health, cultural competency, among others.
This research topic accepts multiple forms of articles, including original research, systematic reviews, and case reports.
In the post-pandemic health care climate, research on the health disparities of emergency care access, utilization, treatment, care coordination, and quality of care for equity-deserving populations is needed more than ever. Evidence that advances our understanding of the interplay between the social determinants of health and emergency care experiences at the patient, provider, institutional and community levels are needed. Further, research on novel interventions at the intrapersonal (patient), interpersonal (patient and provider) and/or structural (institutional) levels to address and attain equity is essential. Additionally, we need evidence from innovative medical educational curricula and training on health advocacy, the social determinants of health, cultural competency, and ways of addressing deeply ingrained unconscious bias. This special issue of Frontiers in Disaster and Emergency Medicine is purposely broad and seeks to publish work centering on equity in emergency care, with application of a wide range of theories and methodologies, including mixed-methods approaches, participatory action research and multi-level interventions, and evaluation at multiple levels in the patient care pathway through to public health and health policy.
For this Research Topic we are particularly interested in contributions that:
• Evaluate disparities in emergency care access, utilization, wait times, treatment, care coordination, discharge, quality of care, patient satisfaction, among others.
• Explore under-researched areas among equity-deserving populations including those who identify as: Indigenous; persons with a disability (physical, sensory, or intellectual); persons facing mental health concerns; unhoused persons; persons with substance use disorders; 2SLGBTQ+; BIPOC; refugees/immigrants; older patients; among others.
• Describe and/or evaluate innovative methodological approaches to emergency care health equity, including use of mixed qualitative/quantitative methodologies or longitudinal research, community-based and/or participatory action research, interventional studies, quality improvement and patient safety studies, among others.
• Explore emergency care perceptions from multiple stakeholders, including patients, providers, hospital administrators, community service providers, policy makers, among others.
• Evaluate health equity at the public policy, health policy level.
• Synthesize existing evidence related to health equity in emergency care.
• Describe research co-design and knowledge translation approaches between emergency departments, community-based organizations who support members of equity-deserving groups, and historically marginalized populations.
• Describe and/or evaluate medical education initiatives and/or curricula for health advocacy and learning opportunities for residents and trainees on the social determinants of health, cultural competency, among others.
This research topic accepts multiple forms of articles, including original research, systematic reviews, and case reports.
Keywords: Emergency Medicine, Equity-deserving Groups, Health Equity, Quality of Care, Patient Safety, Improve Patient Outcomes, Health Care Delivery, Health Policy, Health Justice, Education, disadvantaged, Historically excluded
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
