Disparities in racial, ethnic and payer groups for pediatric safety events in US hospitals (12 February 2024)

Summary

This US study in the journal Pediatrics analysed a national sample of paediatric hospitalisations to identify disparities in safety events. The authors used data from the 2019 Kids’ Inpatient Database and looked at the independent variables of race, ethnicity and the organisation paying for care (for example, private insurance company or Medicaid).

The results showed disparities in safety events for Black and Hispanic children, indicating a need for targeted interventions to improve patient safety in hospitals.