Department of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, United States.
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA.
J Immigr Minor Health. 2023 Apr;25(2):282-290. doi: 10.1007/s10903-022-01399-5. Epub 2022 Sep 22.
Patients with limited English proficiency receive worse care due to communication barriers. Little is known about which cancer hospitals have written language access policies addressing bilingual clinicians. We conducted a cross-sectional survey of healthcare organizations, matching survey data to American Hospital Association Survey and American Community Survey data. We analyzed characteristics associated with hospitals having bilingual clinician policies. The response rate was 71% (127/178). Many hospitals (53 [42%]) did not have written policies on bilingual clinicians. Having bilingual clinicians available at the hospital was associated with having a written policy on bilingual clinicians, while being an NCORP site was associated with not having a written policy on bilingual clinicians. Patient demographic characteristics were not associated with hospitals having written policies on bilingual clinicians. A substantial proportion of cancer hospitals do not have policies that cover language use by bilingual clinicians, particularly at NCORP sites. Having written policies on bilingual clinicians has the potential to mitigate cancer disparities by facilitating accountability, improving communication, and reducing errors.
由于沟通障碍，英语能力有限的患者得到的护理较差。对于有哪些癌症医院制定了双语临床医生的书面语言获取政策，知之甚少。我们对医疗保健组织进行了一项横断面调查，将调查数据与美国医院协会调查和美国社区调查数据相匹配。我们分析了与医院制定双语临床医生政策相关的特征。回复率为 71%（127/178）。许多医院（53 [42%]）没有制定关于双语临床医生的书面政策。医院有双语临床医生与制定双语临床医生书面政策相关，而作为 NCORP 站点则与没有制定双语临床医生书面政策相关。患者人口统计学特征与医院制定双语临床医生书面政策无关。相当一部分癌症医院没有涵盖双语临床医生语言使用的政策，尤其是在 NCORP 站点。制定双语临床医生的书面政策有可能通过提高问责制、改善沟通和减少错误来减轻癌症差异。
