Variability in collection and use of race/ethnicity and language data in 93 pediatric hospitals.

Language and cultural barriers can diminish patient safety. This survey of pediatric hospitals across the United States and Canada explored the use of patient/family race, ethnicity, and language preference data. While most hospitals routinely collected language preferences and patient race/ethnicity, parent or guardian race/ethnicity was collected less often. Few hospitals stratified quality and safety measures by race/ethnicity or language preference, which may hinder efforts to identify and eliminate disparities in care.