Perioperative Health Equity and Language Access

Understanding how language and communication shape perioperative care and developing practical, ethically grounded approaches to improve communication for patients who prefer languages other than English.

Summary

We examine how language and communication influence care across the perioperative continuum. We study differences in access to surgical care, pain assessment and treatment, hospitalization, discharge, postoperative follow-up, and other processes of care, with the goal of identifying modifiable mechanisms and developing interventions that improve communication, safety, patient autonomy, and equitable care.

A major focus of our current work is developing and evaluating multimodal solutions to language barriers. We are studying how professional interpretation, emerging communication technologies, translated materials, and other language-access strategies can be integrated into real clinical workflows while preserving patient safety, informed consent, and meaningful participation in care.

Selected prior work:

• Association of Language Barriers With Perioperative and Surgical Outcomes: A Systematic Review — JAMA Network Open, 2023.
• Association of English Language Proficiency With Hospitalization Cost, Length of Stay, Disposition Location, and Readmission Following Total Joint Arthroplasty — JAMA Network Open, 2022.
• Association of Language Barriers With Process Outcomes After Craniotomy for Brain Tumor — Neurosurgery, 2022.
• Differences in Acute Postoperative Opioid Use by English Proficiency, Race, and Ethnicity After Total Knee and Hip Arthroplasty — Anesthesia & Analgesia, 2025.
• Language-Related Disparities in Pain Management in the Post-Anesthesia Care Unit for Children Undergoing Laparoscopic Appendectomy — Children, 2020.