Cancer care at the hospital-community interface: Perspectives of patients from different cultural and ethnic groups

Objective: To examine perceptions of cancer patients from different cultural and ethnic groups regarding the quality of their care at the hospital-community interface. Methods: Cross-sectional study of cancer patients from a large tertiary center in Israel. Patients were surveyed on the quality of their primary-care and on their transition from the hospital. Regression analyses were used to examine differences among Hebrew-, Russian-, and Arabic-speaking patients in their assessment of six primary-care domains and of their care transition process. Results: 422 patients completed the survey. Russian speakers gave the lowest and Arabic speakers the highest ratings for all primary care domains. Arabic speakers also gave higher ratings for their care transition process than the other two groups. Minority patients' primary-care physicians were significantly more likely than Hebrew speakers' physicians to facilitate the hospital transition process by reviewing the discharge recommendations. Conclusions: Cancer patients from different ethnic groups differ in their primary-care experience and their perceptions of their hospital to community transition. Primary-care physicians serve as facilitators of care transitions by discussing discharge recommendations with their minority patients. Practice implications: Reviewing the discharge recommendations with the patient at the post-discharge primary-care visit is an important contributor to high quality transitional care.