Patient identification systems for First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples: Environmental scan

Review this 2012 report for practices about ethnocultural identification and gaps in identifying First Nations, Inuit, and Métis cancer patients

In this foundational environmental scan, key findings highlight the barriers of ethnocultural identification and the opportunities for overcoming them.

Learn more about the following key findings:

  • All provincial or territorial cancer registries are multi-source databases.
  • Not all provincial or territorial cancer registries use the same types of data sources in the same way.
  • At the national level, the Canadian Cancer Registry (CCR) combines registry data from provinces and territories.
  • There are six potential ethnocultural identifier sources available to provincial and territorial cancer registries.
  • The same ethnocultural identifier sources (except those held by cancer centres and cancer specialists) are also used for databases in other health areas.
  • Besides cancer registries, cancer-screening registries play an increasingly important role in cancer control and system navigation.
  • Some of the potential identifier sources for cancer registries are limited in their application to screening registries and their main uses.
  • This environmental scan identified 50 ethnocultural identification systems.

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