Robert Weech?Maldonado|Marc N. Elliott|Rohit Pradhan|Cameron Schiller|Allyson G. Hall|Ron D. Hays
Can Hospital Cultural Competency Reduce Disparities in Patient Experiences With Care?
University of Alabama at Birmingham|RAND Corporation|University of Alabama at Birmingham|University of Florida|RAND Corporation|University of California, Los Angeles
background cultural competency espoused organizational strategy reduce health disparities care objective examine relationship hospital cultural competency inpatient experiences care research design first model predicted hospital consumer assessment healthcare providers systems hcahps scores hospital random effects plus fixed effects hospital cultural competency individual raceethnicitylanguage casemix variables second model tested association hospitals cultural competency hcahps scores differed minority nonhispanic white patients subjects national cahps benchmarking databases ncbd hcahps surveys cultural competency assessment tool hospitals surveys california hospitals merged resulting 66 hospitals 19583 hcahps respondents 2006 measures dependent variables include 10 hcahps measures 6 composites communication doctors communication nurses staff responsiveness pain control communication medications discharge information 2 individual items cleanliness quietness patient rooms 2 global items overall hospital rating whether patient would recommend hospital results hospitals greater cultural competency better hcahps scores doctor communication hospital rating hospital recommendation furthermore hcahps scores minorities higher hospitals greater cultural competency 4 dimensions nurse communication staff responsiveness quiet room pain control conclusions greater hospital cultural competency may improve overall patient experiences may particularly benefit minorities interactions nurses hospital staff effort may serve longstanding goals reducing racialethnic disparities inpatient experience may also contribute general quality improvement