Exploring the 'Patient Experience' of Individuals with Limited English Proficiency: A Scoping Review

Individuals with limited English proficiency (LEP) face barriers to safe and high-quality health care. 'Patient-experience' is increasingly viewed as an important component of health care quality. However, the impact of language proficiency on 'patient-experience' is not well-described. This scoping review mapped the literature on the patient experience of individuals with LEP. We reviewed sixty qualitative and mixed-methods studies from EMBASE and MEDLINE published between 2007 and 2017. We identified four major themes: (1) Communication, language barriers, and health literacy, (2) Relationships with health care professionals, (3) Discrimination and intersection with other dimensions of identity, and (4) Cultural safety. We also identified factors that may improve LEP patient experience, including: mitigating language barriers through interpretation or language-concordant providers, offering translated patient resources, and educating health care professionals about cultural safety.