Experience with sociodemographic data collection in the Canadian paediatric surgical context: A quality improvement initiative

Groups that experience social inequities have poorer health outcomes; however, Canadian healthcare institutions do not routinely collect data to identify those with health inequities. This quality improvement initiative assessed response rates for different methods of sociodemographic data collection using a questionnaire developed to support the ethical prioritization of paediatric non-urgent surgery. Of the 329 families contacted, 85.4% (281/329) completed the questionnaire and of those, 79.7% (224/281) provided sociodemographic data. Surgeon asking in the clinic had the highest response rate (100.0%, 5/5), followed by phone calls from surgical booking administrators (81.6%, 93/114), and a research assistant asking in the clinic (81.0%, 34/42). Sociodemographic data collection is feasible in a Canadian paediatric hospital setting and response rates were higher when completed in person and by staff supporting the care of the patient. The next steps will be to incorporate patient social determinants of health data into decision-making for surgical prioritization.