• Mauricio A Palau, Maxene R Meier, John T Brinton, Sunah S Hwang, Genie E Roosevelt, and Thomas A Parker.
• Neonatology, Department of Pediatrics, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, 80045, USA. mauricio.palau@dhha.org.
• J Perinatol. 2019 Feb 1; 39 (2): 307-313.

ObjectiveLanguage barriers contribute to suboptimal healthcare delivery. We sought to explore disparities in communication between English and Spanish-speaking parents and their neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) providers.Study DesignWe compared English-speaking versus Spanish-speaking parents' understanding of their infant's diagnosis through a structured interview.ResultsSpanish-speaking parents were four times (RR 4.0, 95% CI: 1.5, 11.0; p = 0.004) more likely to incorrectly identify their child's diagnosis than English-speaking parents. Spanish speakers also self-reported lower understanding of NICU interventions. Physicians provided updates to Spanish-speaking parents in their native language only 39% of the time.ConclusionsSpanish-speaking NICU parents more commonly misunderstood aspects of their child's care than did English-speaking parents. Providers' failed to communicate with Spanish-speaking families in their native language the majority of the time. Additional research is needed to assess the barriers to effective communication between NICU providers and Spanish-speaking parents.

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