ArticleJournal of general internal medicine2018
Emergency Department Care for Patients with Limited English Proficiency: a Retrospective Cohort Study.
Article in Journal of general internal medicine, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 28 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
Who cites it
28 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 60 citations in OpenAlex.
- Prevalence of Professional Interpreter Use in Emergency Departments: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine · 2026Pooled it
- Strategies to Improve Care in the Emergency Department for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Adults: a Systematic Review.Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities · 2025Pooled it
- Association between language discordance and unplanned hospital readmissions or emergency department revisits: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMJ quality & safety · 2024Pooled it
- Limited English Proficiency and Clinical Outcomes After Hospital-Based Care in English-Speaking Countries: a Systematic Review.Journal of general internal medicine · 2022Pooled it
- Access to Translator (AT&T) project: Interpreter on Wheels during the COVID-19 pandemic.BMJ open quality · 2021Trial
- Regarding Racial Disparities in Door-to-Clinician Time for Cardiac Chest Pain in the Emergency Department.The western journal of emergency medicine · 2026Article
- Patient and Caregiver Perspectives on Language Access in Two St. Louis Emergency Departments.Journal of immigrant and minority health · 2026Article
- Quantitative resource utilisation of patients with limited English proficiency (LEP) at a community hospital emergency department (ED) observational controlled study (LEP-ED2 study).BMJ open quality · 2026Observational
- Sexually Transmitted Infection Treatment Rates Among Pregnant vs Nonpregnant Patients in Emergency Departments.JAMA network open · 2026Article
- Evaluating professional interpreting services for patients with limited English proficiency in secondary care settings: a scoping review.BMJ open quality · 2025Article
- Evaluation of Disparities in Emergency Department Admission and Wait Times for Non-English Preferred Patients.The western journal of emergency medicine · 2025Article
- Disparate Use of Diagnostic Modalities for Patients With Limited English Proficiency and Neurologic Disorders.Neurology. Clinical practice · 2025Article
- Quality of Psychiatric Care for Immigrants and People With a Non-English Language Preference: A Systematic Scoping Review.Psychiatric services (Washington, D.C.) · 2025Article
- Nursing perspectives on advancing language access in the emergency department: A qualitative study.PloS one · 2025Article
- Emergency physicians spend more time caring for patients who prefer a language other than English which may not be accounted for in reimbursement structures.Journal of the American College of Emergency Physicians open · 2024Article
- Utilization and perceptions of language assistance services by medical trainees: a pathway to language certification.AIMS public health · 2024Article
- Language interpretation and translation in emergency care: A scoping review protocol.PloS one · 2024Article
- Race and Ethnicity and Primary Language in Emergency Department Triage.JAMA network open · 2023Article
- Association of limited English proficiency with emergency department irregular departures and return visits: A cross-sectional cohort study in the Upper Midwest between January 2018 and December 2021.Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine · 2023Article
- Impact of Native Language, English Proficiency, and Language Concordance on Interpersonal Care During Evaluation of Acute Coronary Syndrome.Journal of general internal medicine · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundLimited English proficiency (LEP) patients may be particularly vulnerable in the high acuity and fast-paced setting of the emergency department (ED).
objectiveTo compare the care processes of LEP patients in the ED.
designRetrospective cohort study.
settingED in a large tertiary care academic medical center. PATIENTS: Adult LEP and English Proficient (EP) patients during their index presentation to the ED from September 1, 2013, to August 31, 2015. LEP patients were identified as those who selected a preferred language other than English when registering for care. MAIN MEASURES: Rates of diagnostic studies, admission, and return visits for those originally discharged from the ED. KEY
resultsWe studied 57,435 visits of which 5241 (9.1%) were for patients with LEP. In adjusted analyses, LEP patients were more likely to receive an X-ray/ultrasound (OR 1.11, CI 1.03-1.19) and be admitted to the hospital (OR 1.09, CI 1.01-1.19). There was no difference in 72-h return visits (OR 0.98, CI 0.73-1.33). LEP patients presenting with complaints related to the cardiovascular system were more likely to receive a stress test (OR 1.51, CI 1.22-1.86), and those with gastrointestinal diagnoses were more likely to have an X-ray/ultrasound (OR 1.31, CI 1.02-1.68). In stratified analyses, Spanish speakers were less likely to be admitted (OR 0.8, CI 0.70-0.91), but those preferring "other" languages, which were all languages with < 500 patients, had a statistically significant higher adjusted rate of admission (OR 1.35, CI 1.17-1.57).
conclusionsED patients with LEP experienced both increased rates of diagnostic testing and of hospital admission. Research is needed to examine why these differences occurred and if they represent inefficiencies in care.
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Registered trials
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.