title: Quality of reproductive health services to limited English proficient (LEP) patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Medical patients with limited English proficiency (LEP) frequently receive health care services of suboptimal quality.
  
  
  METHODS
  We explored whether clients served with staff interpreters (language-discordant, LDI) receive reproductive health care of lower quality than clients seen by a bilingual clinician (language concordant, LC). We conducted a medical record review of 1,589 reproductive health visits of female and male LEP clients.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Multivariate analyses showed that LDI visits were significantly less likely than LC visits to contain documentation of the provision of education and counseling services and less likely to have documentation of sexually transmitted infection (STI) risk assessment among new female clients. Female clients in LDI and LC visits were equally likely to be tested for Chlamydia.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Quality improvement activities should target family planning providers who must use interpreters when serving LEP clients. Medical charts should document the use of interpreters and bilingual clinicians to monitor quality of care.
authors.affiliation: Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94143-0744, USA. thielh@obgyn.ucsf.edu
authors.forename: Heike Thiel
authors.initials: HT
authors.lastname: de Bocanegra
authors.forename: Daria
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rostovtseva
authors.forename: Mine
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cetinkaya
authors.forename: Colin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rundel
authors.forename: Carrie
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lewis
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002140:California; D003144:Communication Barriers; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D034121:Reproductive Health Services / Q000592:standards*; D017678:Sex Distribution; D014175:Translating