Anti-Indigenous racism is leading First Nations patients in Alberta to leave emergency departments without receiving treatment more often than non-First Nations patients, according to new research published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.
The study was co-led by Lea Bill, a registered nurse and the director of The Alberta First Nations Information Governance Centre and Patrick McLane, adjunct associate professor of emergency medicine at the University of Alberta, and was supported by seven Alberta First Nations and funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.
"There are multiple factors that influence the decision to leave the emergency department without being seen," says Bill.
