N. Brown1, A.J. Alexander1, P.L. Martinez1, A.R. Ibele1 1University Of Utah, Division Of General Surgery, Department Of Surgery, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
Introduction: As the population of patients who prefer a language other than English continues to increase, understanding how to provide high quality surgical care for these patients becomes increasingly important. The purpose of this study was to compare patient satisfaction scores following surgery across patients who prefer multiple different languages.
Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis of patient satisfaction scores obtained from routinely administered patient experience surveys following inpatient admission for a surgical procedure between 2013 to 2023. Questions domains that related directly to communication including access to care, provider/staff interactions, and discharge preparedness were reviewed. Top box scores were used for analysis and comparisons in scores were made using a multivariable regression model.
Results: The total number of responses per question ranged from 17,745 to 22,389 across the different questions examined. English was the most common preferred language across all questions (96-97%). Spanish was the second most common preferred language accounting for 2% of responses for each question. Patients who preferred a language other than English had significantly lower satisfaction scores when asked about the courtesy of the providers and staff (p<0.05) and trended toward significantly lower scores when asked about how prepared they felt for discharge (p=0.08). There were no differences in regard to language preference for questions around access to care.
Conclusion: Patients who prefer a language other than English are more likely to have lower satisfaction scores in regard to provider/staff interactions and discharge preparedness. Understanding these patterns and identifying solutions is critical to improving surgical care for these patients.