Children's Hospital Stay

Children whose parents do not speak English fluently have longer inpatient hospital stays than peers.
MedPage Today (5/2, Smith) reported, "When parents don't speak English well, their children may have longer inpatient stays if they need to be hospitalized," according to a study published online in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. For the nine-year retrospective analysis, Michael Levas, MD, and colleagues from Children's Mercy Hospitals and Clinics in Missouri, reviewed medical record of "1,257 children admitted to their hospital from Jan. 1, 2000, to Dec. 31, 2008 for infection requiring prolonged antibiotic treatment" and found that "sick children with parents whose English proficiency was limited spent 60% longer in hospital than those whose parents spoke fluently."