Mapping diversity and demographic‐based changes to a pediatric population attending a specialist tertiary hospital: a retrospective review

Aims This study aimed to describe the demographic characteristics and to measure annual changes in composition of the paediatric population attending a specialist tertiary hospital in Sydney, Australia, between 2015 and 2017. Background Australia has experienced steady growth in the number of people born overseas in the last fifty years thereby building a culturally and linguistically rich country. Such dynamic population changes pose a challenge to the nursing workforce, in particular how the needs of migrant families from non-English-speaking countries are accommodated. Design Retrospective review of medical records. Methods De-identified paediatric inpatient data were imported from a hospital database into Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (version 21) database for cleaning and analysis. Strengthening the reporting of observational studies in epidemiology checklist was completed. Results Paediatric inpatients born in a country other than Australia (8762, 5.7%) emigrated from 155 countries or were "born at Sea" (n = 13, 0.1%) and spoke an array of primary languages (n = 139), other than English. Whilst inpatient health service rates remained constant during the study period, an increased rate of service utilisation was reported for children born in Asia (IRR 1.3, p ≤ 0.001, 95% CI: 1.2-1.4) and in the Middle East (IRR 1.4, p ≤ 0.001, 95% CI: 1.2-1.6). Families who reported that they preferred to speak Chinese Languages, Middle Eastern languages (not Arabic) and languages of India reported increased rates. Conclusion Significant annual changes in composition of the paediatric population were reported. Regular analysis of local inpatient data will inform health care that is responsive to change and addresses the unique needs of diverse families. Relevance to clinical practice Diversity poses a potential challenge to the nursing workforce on a daily basis and more broadly. To meet the changing needs of diverse inpatient populations, nurses will need to plan, implement and evaluate cultural competency, linguistic access, workforce diversity and the quality of care to diverse populations.