Release Date
Geography
Language of Resource
Full Text Available
Open Access / OK to Reproduce
Peer Reviewed
Objective
This study evaluates the presence of stigmatizing language (SL) in clinical notes and detects patient- and provider-level differences.
Findings/Key points
61.6% of patients had at least one note with SL. The most common SLs used were “abuse” and “substance abuse.” Nurses were least likely to use SL while physician assistants were most likely. Male patients were more likely than female patients to have SL in their notes, younger patients aged 18 to 24 were less likely to have SL than patients 45 to 54 years, Asian patients were less likely to have SL than White patients, and Hispanic patients were less likely to have SL than non-Hispanic patients.
Direct link if the DOI is not yet functional: https://journals.lww.com/journaladdictionmedicine/Abstract/2023/07000/T…
Design/methods
All free-text notes generated in a large health system for patients with substance-related diagnoses between December 2020 and November 2021 were included (546,309 notes for 30,391 patients).
