Arab-American patients: a medical record review

This exploratory study consisted of a medical record review of patients with Arabic surnames who utilized outpatient, inpatient, or emergency facilities of a university medical center and a public teaching hospital from 1975 to 1981. The purposes of the study were to describe help-seeking behavior of Arab-American patients, including why they sought care and whether they posed problems for providers, and to determine if the medical records identified culturally-related care needs. This report describes data from 106 charts reviewed with reference to demographic data, illness behavior, and use of facilities. The findings revealed more about charting habits of health professionals than about unique characteristics of patients in this ethnic group.