New study analyzes patient preferences for collecting sexual/gender identity information

Reviewed by James Ives, M.Psych. (Editor)Dec 31 2018

Emergency department patients who are sexual or gender minorities reported greater satisfaction when information on sexual and gender identity was collected on forms during registration instead of by nurses who asked about it during the visit.

Understanding patient preferences for collecting this information is important because health care disparities exist for sexual and gender minority patients (including lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender identities) but the extent of those disparities is not known because of a lack of routine collection of information about sexual and gender identity from patients. This observational study analyzed survey data from 540 emergency department. It is unclear if these findings can be generalized to medical settings outside the emergency department.