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ECRI has released its list of top 10 patient safety concerns for 2021 – and eight of them are related to or have been exacerbated by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Racial and ethnic disparities in healthcare tops ECRI's list of patient safety challenges facing healthcare organizations this year.
Those in the Hispanic and Latinx population have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19. They are three times more likely to be hospitalized and are twice as likely to die from COVID-19 as White non-Hispanic people, ECRI notes.
Public Health Crisis
But racial and ethnic disparities in healthcare go beyond the pandemic. Maternal mortality is 3.3 times as high among Black mothers as among White mothers, and Black adults are more likely to suffer and die from a stroke than are White adults, the organization says.
Overall, racial and ethnic minorities tend to receive lower-quality care and experience greater morbidity and mortality than nonminorities.
"Clearly, racial disparities will not disappear overnight. By profiling this issue, we are calling much-needed attention to this public health crisis," ECRI President and CEO Marcus Schabacker, MD, PhD, said in a news release.
Taking the second spot on this year's list of top patient safety concerns is emergency preparedness and response in aging services.
