Language barriers in acute care in pediatric traumatology — Level 1 trauma center analysis

The growing linguistic diversity among children and their guardians is making language barriers an ever more critical issue in healthcare. Research shows that multiple facets of medical care can be impacted by language barriers. Yet, the potential influence of language barriers in pediatric traumatology remains largely unexplored. In this retrospective case-control study, the parameters adequacy of X-ray diagnostics, treatment duration, unscheduled revisits within 24 h and diagnostic corrections and/or additions were evaluated for a case group (with language barriers) and a control group (without language barriers). The observation period was 2014 to 2023. Language barriers were associated with lower odds of adequate X-ray diagnostics (OR = 0.53, 95% CI 0.30-0.94; p = 0.030), while the difference in treatment duration was small and not statistically significant (+ 2 min, 95% CI - 0.126-4.126; p = 0.066). Diagnostic corrections were more frequent in the language-barrier group (case: 3.0% vs. control: 0.4%; p = 0.045). Twenty-four-hour revisits were similarly low (case: 1.5% vs. control: 0.8%; p = 0.605). CONCLUSION: Overall, language barriers did not obstruct the treatment process of children aged 0 to 3 years in a trauma care setting despite slight differences. These findings set traumatology apart from other medical fields, potentially due to the clearer visibility of injuries, the efficiency of non-verbal cues, and the focused nature of diagnostic procedures. Targeted communication support and even more standardized diagnostic pathways may help reduce variability. WHAT IS KNOWN: • Language-barrier effects have a wide range of effects on the diagnosis and treatment process for pediatric patients in various specialist areas. WHAT IS NEW: • Non-verbal communication forms and clearer injury patterns in traumatology help prevent diagnostic errors. • Language barriers do not clinically impact the treatment of preverbal children in pediatric traumatology.