An Examination of Racial Disparities in Inpatient Consultations

Objective To determine whether racial disparities occurred among specialty and allied health inpatient consultations for patients admitted to adult hospital services at an academic hospital. Methods A retrospective data analysis of the first 2000 patients, ages 18 years or older, admitted to an academic hospital. Results No regression model demonstrated any statistically significant relation between race and type of inpatient consultation received. No statistically significant difference in the number of inpatient consultations was found. Conclusions Processes within the healthcare setting studied did not contribute to racial differences in consultation services. Our findings suggest that implicit racial bias may not be a factor when ordering consultations, but the findings are more likely affected by more appropriate factors such as the patient's age, length of stay, and complexity/severity of illness score.