Evidence map›Paper›PMID 25215085›Full record

ArticleWorld journal of emergency medicine2013

Language affects length of stay in emergency departments in Queensland public hospitals.

Ibrahim Mahmoud, Xiang-Yu Hou, Kevin Chu, Michele Clark

Open access · bronzeAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in World journal of emergency medicine, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
19citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact, top 77% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

19 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 3 citations in OpenAlex.

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  7. Reduced left-without-being-seen rates and impact on disparities after guest services ambassadors implementation.Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine · 2025
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Ibrahim MahmoudSchool of Public Health, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia.
Xiang-Yu HouSchool of Public Health, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia ; Department of Emergency Medicine, Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, Brisbane, Australia.
Kevin ChuSchool of Public Health, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia ; Department of Emergency Medicine, Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, Brisbane, Australia.
Michele ClarkSchool of Public Health, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia.
Queensland University of Technology · AU

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundA long length of stay (LOS) in the emergency department (ED) associated with overcrowding has been found to adversely affect the quality of ED care. The objective of this study is to determine whether patients who speak a language other than English at home have a longer LOS in EDs compared to those whose speak only English at home.

methodsA secondary data analysis of a Queensland state-wide hospital EDs dataset (Emergency Department Information System) was conducted for the period, 1 January 2008 to 31 December 2010.

resultsThe interpreter requirement was the highest among Vietnamese speakers (23.1%) followed by Chinese (19.8%) and Arabic speakers (18.7%). There were significant differences in the distributions of the departure statuses among the language groups (Chi-squared=3236.88, P<0.001). Compared with English speakers, the Beta coefficient for the LOS in the EDs measured in minutes was among Vietnamese, 26.3 (95%CI: 22.1-30.5); Arabic, 10.3 (95%CI: 7.3-13.2); Spanish, 9.4 (95%CI: 7.1-11.7); Chinese, 8.6 (95%CI: 2.6-14.6); Hindi, 4.0 (95%CI: 2.2-5.7); Italian, 3.5 (95%CI: 1.6-5.4); and German, 2.7 (95%CI: 1.0-4.4). The final regression model explained 17% of the variability in LOS.

conclusionThere is a close relationship between the language spoken at home and the LOS at EDs, indicating that language could be an important predictor of prolonged LOS in EDs and improving language services might reduce LOS and ease overcrowding in EDs in Queensland's public hospitals.

Indexed as

Emergency departmentLanguageLength of stay

Identifiers

PMID25215085
PMCPMC4129889
OpenAlexW2160559162

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.