Leo S. Morales|William E. Cunningham|Julie A. Brown|Honghu Liu|Ron D. Hays
Are latinos less satisfied with communication by health care providers?
University of California, Los Angeles|University of California, Los Angeles|RAND Corporation|University of California, Los Angeles|University of California, Los Angeles
objective examine associations patient ratings communication health care providers patient language english vs spanish ethnicity latino vs white methods random sample patients receiving medical care physician group association concentrated west coast studied total 7093 english spanish language questionnaires returned overall response rate 59 five questions asking patients rate communication health care providers examined study five questions administered 7point response scale main results estimated associations satisfaction ratings language english vs spanish ethnicity white vs latino using ordinal logistic models controlling age gender latinos responding spanish latinospanish significantly dissatisfied compared latinos responding english latinoenglish nonlatino whites responding english white asked 1 medical staff listened say 29 vs 17 vs 13 rated poor poor fair p01 2 answers questions 27 vs 16 vs 12 p01 3 explanations prescribed medications 22 vs 19 vs 14 p01 4 explanations medical procedures test results 36 vs 21 vs 17 p01 5 reassurance support doctors office staff 37 vs 23 vs 18 p01 conclusion study documents latinospanish respondents significantly dissatisfied provider communication latinoenglish white respondents results suggest spanishspeaking latinos may increased risk lower quality care poor health outcomes efforts improve quality communication spanishspeaking latino patients outpatient health care settings needed