Pain Assessment Disparities by Race, Ethnicity, and Language in Adult Hospitalized Patients.

The study used existing electronic health record documentation, so it could only analyze complete pain assessments where nurses recorded a tool and value. It excluded intensive care unit stays, so it does not describe pain assessment in that setting. Patients could have many assessments and could switch between tools, so the analysis does not show what happened at each individual decision point. Race documentation may not match what patients self-reported, and the study did not have interpreter use data or the identity of the nurse who performed each assessment. The study shows associations between patient groups, assessment type, and opioid dose, but it cannot prove that bias, language barriers, or nurse behavior caused the differences. Pain scales are not known to be equivalent across cultures, so different tool use may reflect patient communication preferences as well as care differences.

The authors declared no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could appear to influence the work.

Do not conclude that nurses intentionally undertreated Asian or limited English proficiency patients. The study shows documented assessment type and opioid amounts varied by race, ethnicity, and language, but it did not measure nurse intent, interpreter use, or individual nurse bias.