Exploring the Factors that Influence Ethical Spanish Use among Medical Students and Solutions for Improvement.

IssueThere is a need for greater access to Spanish language services in United States healthcare. One approach to increasing language concordant care is the use of second language skills by healthcare staff. The desire to use second language skills may have unintended consequences when individuals step beyond their language abilities and can cause more harm than do good for limited-English proficiency patients. Medical students are in a unique position that places them at increased risk for inappropriately using second language skills. Evidence: The use of qualified healthcare interpreters has been shown to mitigate some of the disparities seen with limited-English proficiency patients including poorer healthcare outcomes, less access to care, and lower patient satisfaction. In spite of this knowledge, studies have demonstrated the phenomenon of residents and physicians "getting by" without the use of an interpreter, even when they recognized that their language competency was insufficient to provide high quality care. Regardless of language ability, medical students are asked to engage in conversations with Spanish speaking patients that are beyond their level of language competency. Students vary in their perceived language ability and level of comfort engaging in different clinical scenarios with limited-English proficiency patients. Implications: Students are in a unique position of vulnerability to pressures to use second language skills in situations that step beyond their abilities. We explore how hierarchy intensifies previously established factors, including a lack of adequate training or evaluation and other structural barriers, in contributing to medical students' inappropriate use of Spanish with limited-English proficiency patients. We propose an approach that includes student education, standardization of clinic rules regarding interpretation, and comprehensive faculty development to address this important patient care issue.

End-of-Life Care in Patients Undergoing Allogeneic Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation.

Background: Patients receiving allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) have high morbidity and mortality risk, but literature is limited on factors associated with end-of-life (EOL) care intensity. Objectives: Describe EOL care in patients after allogeneic HCT and examine association of patient and clinical characteristics with intense EOL care. Design: Retrospective chart review. Setting/Subjects: A total of 113 patients who received allogeneic HCT at Mayo Clinic Arizona between 2013 and 2017 and died before November 2019. Measurements: A composite EOL care intensity measure included five markers: (1) no hospice enrollment, (2) intensive care unit (ICU) stay in the last month, (3) hospitalization >14 days in last month, (4) chemotherapy use in the last two weeks, and (5) cardiopulmonary resuscitation, hemodialysis, or mechanical ventilation in the last week of life. Multivariable logistic regression modeling assessed associations of having ≥1 intensity marker with sociodemographic and disease characteristics, palliative care consultation, and advance directive documentation. Results: Seventy-six percent of patients in our cohort had ≥1 intensity marker, with 43% receiving ICU care in the last month of life. Median hospital stay in the last month of life was 15 days. Sixty-five percent of patients died in hospice; median enrollment was 4 days. Patients with higher education were less likely to have ≥1 intensity marker (odds ratio 0.28, p = 0.02). Patients who died >100 days after HCT were less likely to have ≥1 intensity marker than patients who died ≤100 days of HCT (p = 0.04). Conclusions: Death within 100 days of HCT and lower educational attainment were associated with higher likelihood of intense EOL care.