Hospital Care May Get Lost in Translation
Study: Spanish Language Barrier May Raise Rate of Pediatric Hospital Errors
Sept. 7, 2005 -- Children of Spanish-speaking families may be more likely to endure hospital errors due to language barriers, a new study shows.
The study, published in Pediatrics, focuses on one pediatric hospital in the Pacific Northwest. But the issue is bigger than that, write Adam Cohen, MD, MPH, and colleagues.
"Language barriers may contribute to medical errors by impeding patient-provider communication," they write. "One particularly vulnerable group is immigrant children and the children of immigrant parents, the fastest growing segment of the U.S. child population."
Cohen is on staff at the CDC. He worked on the study while at the University of Washington and Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center in Seattle.
Cohen's team studied 572 children treated at a pediatric hospital in the Pacific Northwest from 1998 to 2003. The patients were up to 21 years old.
Most had no problems in their hospital care. However, 97 patients had what the researchers call a "serious medical event." Examples of these adverse events defined by this study include getting the wrong diagnostic procedures, missed or delayed diagnoses, and medication errors.
Overall, they found no link between requests for interpreters and hospital errors. However, Spanish-speaking families that asked for hospital interpreters were twice as likely to have hospital errors as those that didn't request an interpreter, the study shows.
Children from Spanish-speaking families that requested a hospital interpreter accounted for 11% of the patients. The study also included other Hispanic families that didn't ask for an interpreter.
Spanish wasn't the only non-English language noted in the study. Other language groups included Cambodian, Cantonese, French, Haitian, Italian, Japanese, Russian, Somali, Ukrainian, and Vietnamese. However, patients from families speaking those languages made up less than 1% of the study's participants.
"Serious medical events" were reported by the hospital's quality improvement staff, so many other medical errors likely weren't included, the researchers note.
Hospital Care May Get Lost in Translation
Study: Spanish Language Barrier May Raise Rate of Pediatric Hospital Errors
Sept. 7, 2005 -- Children of Spanish-speaking families may be more likely to endure hospital errors due to language barriers, a new study shows.
The study, published in Pediatrics, focuses on one pediatric hospital in the Pacific Northwest. But the issue is bigger than that, write Adam Cohen, MD, MPH, and colleagues.
"Language barriers may contribute to medical errors by impeding patient-provider communication," they write. "One particularly vulnerable group is immigrant children and the children of immigrant parents, the fastest growing segment of the U.S. child population."
Cohen is on staff at the CDC. He worked on the study while at the University of Washington and Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center in Seattle.
Language & Hospital Errors
Cohen's team studied 572 children treated at a pediatric hospital in the Pacific Northwest from 1998 to 2003. The patients were up to 21 years old.
Most had no problems in their hospital care. However, 97 patients had what the researchers call a "serious medical event." Examples of these adverse events defined by this study include getting the wrong diagnostic procedures, missed or delayed diagnoses, and medication errors.
Overall, they found no link between requests for interpreters and hospital errors. However, Spanish-speaking families that asked for hospital interpreters were twice as likely to have hospital errors as those that didn't request an interpreter, the study shows.
No Link Seen With Other Languages
Children from Spanish-speaking families that requested a hospital interpreter accounted for 11% of the patients. The study also included other Hispanic families that didn't ask for an interpreter.
Spanish wasn't the only non-English language noted in the study. Other language groups included Cambodian, Cantonese, French, Haitian, Italian, Japanese, Russian, Somali, Ukrainian, and Vietnamese. However, patients from families speaking those languages made up less than 1% of the study's participants.
"Serious medical events" were reported by the hospital's quality improvement staff, so many other medical errors likely weren't included, the researchers note.
SHARE
