Pharmacy Transitional Team: Evaluating the Value for Patients With Limited English Proficiency

The overall goal of this proposed study is to characterize the experiences, barriers and facilitators related to providing effective care transitions from hospital to post-acute care settings to elucidate the failures that drive disparate outcomes using qualitative methodology and to ultimately adapt standardized processes to close the equity gap.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Transition of Care

Detailed Description

Current care transition requires adaptation to address persistently worse outcomes for minoritized patients. For those who speak English, there are multiple spontaneous interactions with the healthcare team in addition to formal discharge teaching. Those with LEP have limited, scheduled time (where family may not be available) to ask questions and receive the bulk of discharging instructions in one setting. Even if meeting standards, there is variation in interpreter-services practice (e.g., video-based). We strive for standardization of implementation in most hospital processes rather than adaptation to meet the needs of individuals in order to achieve equitable clinical results. Hospital care quality improvement processes rarely include contextual narratives of the impact in historically marginalized individuals. Furthermore, clinical trials often fail to describe "success" from a patient or their caregivers' perspective. This study brings an innovative team with expertise in mixed methodology to focus on patient experience and equity to improve the value of transition processes from hospitals to SNFs.

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Actual): 17

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Washington
    • Seattle, Washington, United States, 98195
      • University of Washington Medical Center

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

patients who speak Spanish and/or their caregivers

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Inpatient hospitalization at the University of Washington (UW) Medical Center

Designated as Spanish- speaking in the EPIC electronic medical record (EMR)

Designated as needing an interpreter in the EMR

Being discharged to any skilled nursing facility

Exclusion Criteria: Patients who were unable to participate in a qualitative interview due to neurocognitive conditions such as dementia or schizophrenia were excluded from the study.

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Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Number of groups / cohorts

2

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort
Patients or Caregivers; Qualitative interviewing conducted with Spanish-speaking patients and/or their caregivers based on transition of care experience from hospital to Skilled Nursing Facility
Care Team; Care Team members at University of Washington were surveyed about their experience with patients who speak other languages and are transitioning care to a Skilled Nursing Facility

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Qualitative Themes Identified From Semi-Structured Interviews With Spanish-Speaking Patients and Caregivers	The primary outcome is the set of qualitative themes identified through inductive content analysis of semi-structured interview transcripts. Interview transcripts will be coded using a structured codebook, and emergent themes related to communication, language needs, barriers, facilitators, and care transition experiences will be identified and categorized.	Interviews conducted within 7 days of transfer to a skilled nursing facility (SNF)

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Washington
• Collaborators: Donaghue Medical Research Foundation
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Giana Davidson, MD, MPH, University of Washington

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): July 12, 2023
• Primary Completion (Actual): March 10, 2025
• Study Completion (Actual): June 30, 2025

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: November 18, 2025
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 23, 2026
• First Posted (Actual): February 27, 2026

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): February 27, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 23, 2026
• Last Verified: February 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: care transitions; qualitative research; communication barriers; cultural competence; Spanish-speaking patients; low English proficiency; healthcare equity; translators
• Other Study ID Numbers: STUDY00016546

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: UNDECIDED

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No