Characterizing injury patterns and outcomes in hospitalized trauma patients with non-English Language Preferences.

INTRODUCTION: Patients with Non-English Language Preferences (NELP) experience challenges navigating the US healthcare system which can lead to disparate outcomes. This study sought to investigate injury patterns and outcomes in hospitalized trauma patients with NELP. METHODS: A retrospective review was performed at a trauma center from January 2019-December 2020. An institutional database of all emergency department video consultations for interpreter services was cross-referenced with the trauma registry and comparisons were made between NELP and English-preferred (EP) speaking patients. RESULTS: During the study, 257 NELP patients were hospitalized after traumatic injury. Twenty-two percent had work related injuries compared to only 3.0% in the EP cohort (p < 0.001). When propensity score matched, there were no significant differences in ICU and hospital length of stay or mortality between NELP and EP patients. DISCUSSION: Trauma patients are linguistically diverse and understanding their injury patterns and outcomes is crucial for guiding culturally and linguistically appropriate injury prevention.

Estimating the Prevalence of Intimate Partner Violence at an Urban Hospital Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic Using a Novel Natural Language Processing Algorithm

The impact of COVID-19 on intimate partner violence (IPV) in the United States is still relatively unknown, although some early data demonstrate that cases of IPV increased during COVID-19. The objective of this study was to measure the prevalence of IPV before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in a southeastern urban hospital. We performed a retrospective analysis of IPV encounters at a single high-volume Level I trauma hospital. IPV encounters were identified through a novel natural language processing algorithm using IPV-related words and phrases within unstructured clinical notes. IPV encounters from February to August 2019 (pre-COVID-19 period) were compared with encounters from February to August 2020 (COVID-19 period). The IPV visit rate during the COVID-19 period was higher than that during the pre-COVID-19 period (0.82% of all visits in 2020 vs. 0.72% of all visits in 2019). The number of IPV encounters for patients with no prior IPV visits was higher in 2020, whereas the number of revisits, patients with prior IPV encounters, was lower in 2020. There was an increased incidence of IPV during the COVID-19 pandemic with an increase in the number of patients presenting with first time IPV encounters. Future hospital and community pandemic preparedness protocols must include expansion of screening, resource allocation, and protective policies for those in unsafe situations.

Presentation, clinical course and complications in trauma patients with concomitant COVID-19 infection.

BACKGROUND: This study investigated the impact of COVID-19 infection on hospitalized trauma patients. METHODS: A retrospective review of hospitalized trauma patients at a level I trauma center was performed from March-December 2020. Data pertaining to patient demographics, presentation and hospital course was compared between COVID positive and negative trauma patients. RESULTS: There were 4,912 patients and 179 (3.64%) were COVID-19 positive. Demographics and clinical presentation did not differ significantly between those with and without concomitant COVID-19. However, COVID positive trauma patients had higher rates of acute kidney injury (p = 0.016), sepsis (p = 0.016), unplanned intubation (p = 0.002) and unplanned return to the ICU (p = 0.01). The COVID positive cohort also had longer hospital stays (p < 0.01) with no significant difference in mortality. CONCLUSIONS: In the setting of an ongoing pandemic, awareness of the complications COVID positive trauma patients are predisposed to is important for providers.