Interpreter Use and Patient Satisfaction in the Otolaryngology Outpatient Clinic.

Background Communication between providers and patients is essential to patient care and to the patient-physician relationship. It plays a significant role in both measurable and perceived quality of care. This study explores the satisfaction of English-speaking and limited English proficiency (LEP) patients with English-speaking providers, focusing on the correlation between patients' primary language and the use of interpreter services on patients' visit satisfaction. Methodology This study was designed to have a sample size sufficient to detect a 10% difference in the primary outcome, overall visit satisfaction, between language-concordant patients and LEP patients in the interpreter and no interpreter groups, assuming a two-tailed alpha of 0.05 and power of 80%. All collected data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences software, version 25 (IBM Corp, Armonk, NY, USA), and significance was determined if p <0.05. Results Of the total 209 patients, 65 utilized professional interpreter services, nine used an ad-hoc interpreter, and 135 did not require an interpreter. Patients who used an interpreter demonstrated lower visit satisfaction compared with patients who did not (p < 0.001). Patients expressed significantly greater preference for in-person interpreter (mean = 9.73) or a family member (mean = 9.44) compared to telephone services (mean = 8.50) (p = 0.002). The overall satisfaction scores did not significantly differ between different interpreter types (p = 0.157). Conclusions LEP patients experienced lower visit satisfaction compared to language-concordant patients. The data suggest that perceived quality of communication was a factor in these lower satisfaction reports. While LEP patients did prefer in-person interpreters, there was no significant difference in overall visit satisfaction between different types of interpreters.

Hybrid 3D Printing of Soft Electronics.

Hybrid 3D printing is a new method for producing soft electronics that combines direct ink writing of conductive and dielectric elastomeric materials with automated pick-and-place of surface mount electronic components within an integrated additive manufacturing platform. Using this approach, insulating matrix and conductive electrode inks are directly printed in specific layouts. Passive and active electrical components are then integrated to produce the desired electronic circuitry by using an empty nozzle (in vacuum-on mode) to pick up individual components, place them onto the substrate, and then deposit them (in vacuum-off mode) in the desired location. The components are then interconnected via printed conductive traces to yield soft electronic devices that may find potential application in wearable electronics, soft robotics, and biomedical devices.

Instrumented cardiac microphysiological devices via multimaterial three-dimensional printing.

Biomedical research has relied on animal studies and conventional cell cultures for decades. Recently, microphysiological systems (MPS), also known as organs-on-chips, that recapitulate the structure and function of native tissues in vitro, have emerged as a promising alternative. However, current MPS typically lack integrated sensors and their fabrication requires multi-step lithographic processes. Here, we introduce a facile route for fabricating a new class of instrumented cardiac microphysiological devices via multimaterial three-dimensional (3D) printing. Specifically, we designed six functional inks, based on piezo-resistive, high-conductance, and biocompatible soft materials that enable integration of soft strain gauge sensors within micro-architectures that guide the self-assembly of physio-mimetic laminar cardiac tissues. We validated that these embedded sensors provide non-invasive, electronic readouts of tissue contractile stresses inside cell incubator environments. We further applied these devices to study drug responses, as well as the contractile development of human stem cell-derived laminar cardiac tissues over four weeks.

Microfluidic Printheads for Multimaterial 3D Printing of Viscoelastic Inks.

Multimaterial 3D printing using microfluidic printheads specifically designed for seamless switching between two visco-elastic materials "on-the-fly" during fabrication is demonstrated. This approach opens new avenues for the digital assembly of functional matter with controlled compositional and property gradients at the microscale.

Capacitive soft strain sensors via multicore-shell fiber printing.

A new method for fabricating textile integrable capacitive soft strain sensors is reported, based on multicore-shell fiber printing. The fiber sensors consist of four concentric, alternating layers of conductor and dielectric, respectively. These wearable sensors provide accurate and hysteresis-free strain measurements under both static and dynamic conditions.