Diabetes care and language discordance among Chinese and Latino primary care patients.

Overview

OBJECTIVES: To assess differences in diabetes processes of care among Chinese and Latino patients across medical interpreting methods. DESIGN AND SETTING: This is a nested cohort study of patients with diabetes, comparing interpreting methods and their impact on medical outcomes at the primary care clinic of a New York City municipal hospital. PARTICIPANTS: 54 Spanish and Chinese-speaking language discordant diabetic patients were enrolled and followed for one year. INTERVENTION: Language discordant patients received either Remote Simultaneous Medical Interpreting (RSMI), or usual and customary (U&C) interpreting. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Composite medical care scores were calculated for physician ordering and patient completion of diabetes care measures. RESULTS: RSMI patients, compared with U&C patients, had trends towards higher mean patient completion (.29 vs .25) and physician ordering (.41 vs .37) scores. Overall rates of completion of diabetes care measures in both groups were very low. CONCLUSIONS: Overall rates of physician ordering and patient completion of diabetes care measures were distressingly low in our study. Further studies are needed to explore the potential role of RSMI in addressing the language barrier and improving diabetes care for Chinese- and Spanish-speaking patients.