Abstract
Background: Cultural and language discordance between patients and providers constitutes a significant challenge to provision of quality healthcare. This study aims to evaluate minority patients' discharge from hospital to community care, specifically examining the relationship between patient-provider language concordance and the quality of transitional care.Methods: This was a multi-method prospective study of care transitions of 92 patients: native Hebrew, Russian or Arabic speakers, with a pre-discharge questionnaire and structured observations examining discharge preparation from a large Israeli teaching hospital. Two weeks post-discharge patients were surveyed by phone, on the transition from hospital to community care (the Care Transition Measure (CTM-15, 0-100 scale)) and on the primary-care post-discharge visit.Results: Overall, ratings on the CTM indicated fair quality of the transition process (scores of 51.8 to 58.8). Patient-provider language concordance was present in 49% of minority patients' discharge briefings. Language concordance was associated with higher CTM scores among minority groups (64.1 in language-concordant versus 49.8 in non-language-concordant discharges, P <0.001). Other aspects significantly associated with CTM scores: extent of discharge explanations (P <0.05), quality of discharge briefing (P <0.001), and post-discharge explanations by the primary care physician (P <0.01).Conclusion: Language-concordant care, coupled with extensive discharge briefings and post-discharge explanations for ongoing care, are important contributors to the quality of care transitions of ethnic minority patients.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 24 |
Journal | Israel Journal of Health Policy Research |
Volume | 3 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 22 Jul 2014 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Funding for the study was provided by the Israel National Institute for Health Policy and Health Services Research. The funding agency had no involvement in the work.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2014 Rayan et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.
Keywords
- Cultural differences
- Language concordance
- Minority patients
- Quality of care
- Transitional care
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Health Policy
- Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health