Journal of general internal medicine
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Multicenter Study
Professional language interpretation and inpatient length of stay and readmission rates.
The population of persons seeking medical care is linguistically diverse in the United States. Language barriers can adversely affect a patient's ability to explain their symptoms. Among hospitalized patients, these barriers may lead to higher readmission rates and longer hospitalizations. Trained interpreters help overcome communication barriers; however, interpreter usage among patients is suboptimal. ⋯ The length of a hospital stay for LEP patients was significantly longer when professional interpreters were not used at admission or both admission/discharge.