摘要:
Objectives: Optimally caring for oncology patients of culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds poses a unique set of challenges. We aimed to describe CALD gynecologic oncology patient characteristics and distress screening completion in a large, multicultural academic cancer center. Methods: This was a retrospective study of patients with a primary gynecologic malignancy treated in the medical, surgical, or radiation oncology and palliative care clinics at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre (PM), Toronto, Canada, from January 1 to December 31, 2019. Data was generated from electronic health records and other databases. Non-English patients were defined as those who listed a primary language on Electronic Patient Records other than English on initial registration. Edmonton Symptom Assessment System-revised (ESAS-r) was available in various languages, and completion rates were assessed and descriptive statistics performed. Results: In 2019, there were 19,343 patient visits recorded in gynecologic oncology clinics, and 4684 unique patients (mean visits per patient = 4.13). 1656 (8.6%) patient visits were registered as non-English speakers (376 [8.6%] out of 4684 unique patients) comprising more than 40 languages (Figure 1). Most common spoken languages were Mandarin (15.5%), Portuguese (11.6%), Cantonese (10.9%), Spanish (7.8%) and Italian (7.3%). ESAS-r completion rates in the gynecologic oncology clinics were lower in non-English (18.4%) than English (36%; p<0.001) patient visits. Of the most common spoken non-English language populations, ESAS-r completion rates were highest in Spanish patient visits (24%), followed by Mandarin (21.7%), Cantonese (20.6%), Portuguese (17.6%) and Italian (10.8%).