Allison P Squires

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Background: In home health care, language barriers are understudied. Language barriers between patients and providers are known to affect a variety of patient outcomes. How a patient's language preference influences hospital readmission risk from home health care has yet to be determined. Objective: To determine if home care patients’ language preference is associated with their risk for hospital readmission from home health care within 30 days of hospital discharge. Design: Retrospective cross-sectional study of hospital readmissions from an urban home health care agency's administrative records and the national electronic home health care record for the United States, captured between 2010 and 2015. Setting: New York City, New York, USA. Participants: The dataset comprised 90,221 post-hospitalization patients and 6.5 million home health care visits. Methods: First, a Chi-square test was used to determine if there were significant differences in crude readmission rates based on language group. Inverse probability of treatment weighting was used to adjust for significant differences in known hospital readmission risk factors between to examine all-cause hospital readmission during a home health care stay. The final matched sample included 87,561 patients with a language preference of English, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, or Korean. English-speaking patients were considered the comparison group to the non-English speaking patients. A Marginal Structural Model was applied to estimate the impact of non-English language preference against English language preference on rehospitalization. The results of the marginal structural model were expressed as an odds ratio of likelihood of readmission to the hospital from home health care. Results: Home health patients with a non-English language preference had a higher hospital readmission risk than English-speaking patients. Crude readmission rate for the limited English proficiency patients was 20.4% (95% CI, 19.9–21.0%) overall compared to 18.5% (95% CI, 18.7–19.2%) for English speakers (p < 0.001). Being a non-English-speaking patient was associated with an odds ratio of 1.011 (95% CI, 1.004–1.018) in increased hospital readmission rates from home health care (p = 0.001). There were also statistically significant differences in readmission rate by language group (p < 0.001), with Korean speakers having the lowest rate and Spanish speakers having the highest, when compared to English speakers. Conclusions: People with a non-English language preference have a higher readmission rate from home health care. Hospital and home healthcare agencies may need specialized care coordination services to reduce readmission risk for these patients. Tweetable abstract: A new US-based study finds that home care patients with language barriers are at higher risk for hospital readmission.

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To determine the prevalence of burnout among the midwifery workforce and the association between fixed personal and practice characteristics and modifiable organizational factors, specifically practice environment, to burnout among midwives in the United States.

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BACKGROUND: Hypertension is the most common non-communicable disease in Uganda and its prevalence is predicted to grow substantially over the next several years. Rates of hypertension control remain suboptimal, however, due in part to poor medication adherence. There is a significant need to better understand the drivers of poor medication adherence for patients with non-communicable diseases and to implement appropriate interventions to improve adherence.OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was two-fold. First, this study sought to understand what factors support or undermine patients' efforts to adhere to their hypertensive medications at baseline. Second, this study sought to explore the acceptability and feasibility of adherence interventions to both providers and patients.METHODS: This study was conducted at a large, urban private hospital in Kampala, Uganda. We conducted key informant interviews with both providers and patients. We explored their beliefs about the causes of medication non-adherence while examining the acceptability of support strategies validated in similar contexts, such as: daily text reminders, educational materials on hypertension, monthly group meetings (i.e. "adherence clubs") led by patients or providers, one-on-one appointments with providers, and modified drug dispensing at the hospital pharmacy.STUDY DESIGN AND PARTICIPANTS: Fifteen healthcare providers and forty-two patients were interviewed. All interviews were transcribed, and these transcripts were analyzed using the NVIVO software. We utilized a conventional content analysis approach informed by the Health Belief Model.RESULTS: Of the proposed interventions, participants expressed particularly strong interest in adherence clubs and educational materials. Participants drew connections between these interventions and previously underexplored drivers of non-adherence, which included the lack of symptoms from untreated hypertension, fear of medication side effects, interest in traditional herbal medicine, and the importance of family and community support.CONCLUSIONS: Both providers and patients at the facility recognized medication non-adherence as a major barrier to hypertension control and expressed interest in improving adherence through interventions that addressed context-specific barriers.

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