Mustajoki Marianne, Eriksson Johan G, Forsén Tom
Department of General Practice and Primary Health Care, University of Helsinki, Finland.
J Family Med Prim Care. 2020 Aug 25;9(8):4045-4052. doi: 10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_317_20. eCollection 2020 Aug.
We assessed the prevalence and consequences of discordant language communication between bilingual Swedish speaking emergency patients and general practitioners (GPs) in Finnish healthcare. We compared the results with Finnish speaking emergency patients provided with language concordant healthcare.
A researcher-designed questionnaire was used to collect data about both Swedish and Finnish speaking emergency patients' health and socioeconomic status, reason for emergency visits and use of healthcare. Furthermore, the Swedish speakers' nonnative language proficiency and preferred communication language were examined. The study was performed in 16 healthcare centers and outpatient departments in bilingual regions in Finland.
The Swedish speakers ( = 139) visited healthcare centers less than the Finnish speakers ( = 736) ( = 0.001) and communicated less frequently with the GP in their native language ( < 0.001). The Swedish speakers more often planned to revisit their assigned GP ( < 0.001) after the emergency visit. No differences in health conditions and socioeconomic status between the language groups were observed.
Although Swedish and Finnish speaking emergency patients report a similar prevalence of chronic noncommunicable diseases, Swedish speakers make fewer annual visits to a physician. We suggest that discordant language communication might relate to decreased healthcare visits among bilingual Swedish speaking emergency patients.
我们评估了在芬兰医疗保健体系中，讲瑞典语的双语急诊患者与全科医生（GP）之间语言沟通不一致的发生率及其后果。我们将结果与接受语言匹配医疗服务的讲芬兰语的急诊患者进行了比较。
使用研究人员设计的问卷收集讲瑞典语和芬兰语的急诊患者的健康和社会经济状况、急诊就诊原因及医疗服务使用情况的数据。此外，还调查了讲瑞典语者的非母语熟练程度和偏好的沟通语言。该研究在芬兰双语地区的16个医疗中心和门诊部进行。
讲瑞典语者（n = 139）前往医疗中心的次数少于讲芬兰语者（n = 736）（P = 0.001），且与全科医生用母语沟通的频率较低（P < 0.001）。讲瑞典语者在急诊就诊后更常计划回访其指定的全科医生（P < 0.001）。未观察到不同语言组之间在健康状况和社会经济地位方面存在差异。
尽管讲瑞典语和芬兰语的急诊患者报告的慢性非传染性疾病患病率相似，但讲瑞典语者每年看医生的次数较少。我们认为，语言沟通不一致可能与讲瑞典语的双语急诊患者就诊次数减少有关。
