Background: Patients with limited English proficiency (LEP) comprise 19% of the adult population of California (1). Communication barriers between providers and patients with LEP contribute to health disparities and associate with increased adverse events (2,3). Working with professional interpreters associates with decreased hospital length-of-stay and readmission rates (4). However, few providers receive formal training on [...]

Background: Large Language Model (LLM) chatbots, like ChatGPT (from Open-AI), have received widespread attention in the last year for their ability to process large amounts of text data and produce human-like script responses on a wide array of topics. In particular, LLM chatbots have performed well in areas of patient communication, whether it’s answering cardiovascular [...]

Background: The personal statement (PS) is a crucial factor in a residency program’s evaluation of applicants and has traditionally been helpful in understanding applicants’ journeys in medicine, values, and written communication skills. Now, with accessible large language models (i.e. ChatGPT) designed for language composition, there is interest in how these models may be utilized by [...]

Background: Diagnostic uncertainty, defined as the subjective perception of an inability to provide an accurate explanation of the patient’s health problem, has been implicated in diagnostic error.1 Clinician notes, such as the admission notes, often include hedging terms, uncertainty phrases, and diagnostic differentials that can be used to assess uncertainty in unstructured documentation.1,2 Quantifying diagnostic [...]

Background: Historically, there has been a significant disparity in the number of patient experience Press Ganey survey responses between English-speaking patients and those who speak other languages. In 2022, our organization observed a remarkably low inpatient Press Ganey survey response rate for the Spanish-speaking patient population, standing at 5.7%. Out of 2,303 surveys sent, only [...]

Background: The existing literature suggests there is no significant difference in risk adjusted inpatient mortality between patients whose preferred language is English and those who preferred a non-English language.1 However, these studies typically exclude patients with missing language data from analysis. Purpose: In our health system, missing language data is specified in the electronic health [...]

Background: Immunosuppression regimens are highly effective at preventing rejection but carry risk of toxicity and can be complex. Clinical decision support (CDS) tools embedded in electronic health records have presented opportunity to systematically aid providers ordering such medications appropriately. However, discrepancy between a clinically-documented plan for use and provider orders may exist. Natural language processing [...]