Table 3.

Professional Interpreter Use and Provider Discharge Communication Behaviors

Communication Interaction Analysis
Provider Discharge Communication Behavior (Outcome)	Professional Interpreter Use (Predictor)	Adjusted Odds Ratio* (95% Confidence Interval)
Complete discharge education†
	None	Reference
	Professional interpreter	7.1 (1.4–37.0)
	Bilingual provider	2.7 (0.2–46.5)
High-quality assessment‡
	None	Reference
	Professional interpreter	6.1 (2.3–15.9)
	Bilingual provider	§

^*Adjusted for Emergency Severity Index triage acuity (high vs low) on presentation to the emergency department.

^†Discharge education considered complete if ≥3 key components of discharge education content were present in the communication interaction; n = 58 communication interactions containing discharge education for patients discharged to home.

^‡Assessment of caregiver understanding was considered high quality if the communication interaction included teach-back or an invitation for the caregiver to ask questions; n = 101 communication interactions containing discharge education for all patients.

^§Dropped from model owing to small sample size (n = 3).