Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2010 Jun;42(6):414-20.

Self-reported fluency in non-english languages among physicians practicing in California

Gerardo Moreno  1 , Kara Odom Walker, Kevin Grumbach
Affiliations

Self-reported fluency in non-english languages among physicians practicing in California

Gerardo Moreno et al. Fam Med. 2010 Jun.

Abstract

Background and objectives: With increasing numbers of people with limited English proficiency in the United States, there is growing concern about the potential adverse effect of language barriers on patient care. We sought to compare the non-English language fluency of practicing physicians by physician race/ethnicity and location of medical school education.

Methods: We used cross-sectional analyses of California Medical Board Survey (2007) data of 61,138 practicing physicians. Measures examined were self-reported physician language fluency in 34 languages, race/ethnicity, and medical school of graduation.

Results: Forty-two percent of physicians reported having fluency in at least one language other than English. Fifty-six percent of international medical graduates (IMGs) reported fluency in a language other than English, compared to 37% of US medical graduates (USMG). Although the majority of physicians with fluency in Spanish are not Latino, fluency in Asian languages is primarily restricted to physicians who are of Asian race/ethnicity. Eighty-seven percent of physicians with fluency in Mandarin, Cantonese, or other Chinese languages are of Chinese ethnicity. A similar association between ethnicity and fluency was found for Southeast Asian languages, Pacific Island languages, and South Asian languages. IMGs constituted more than 80% of the physicians with fluency in Arabic, South Asian, and Pacific Islander languages.

Conclusions: IMGs contribute to the diversity of languages spoken by California physicians.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Self-reported Language Fluency Among California Physicians According to Race/Ethnicity and Medical School of Graduation (USMG Versus IMG)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. US Census Bureau [Accessed November 30, 2009];American Community Survey. 2006–2008 Available at www.census.gov.
    1. Rivadeneyra R, Elderkin-Thompson V, Silver RC, Waitzkin H. Patient centeredness in medical encounters requiring an interpreter. Am J Med. 2000;108:470–4. - PubMed
    1. Ngo-Metzger Q, Sorkin DH, Phillips RS, et al. Providing high-quality care for limited English proficient patients: the importance of language concordance and interpreter use. J Gen Intern Med. 2007;22(2 suppl):324–30. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Wilson E, Chen AH, Grumbach K, Wang F, Fernandez A. Effects of limited English proficiency and physician language on health care comprehension. J Gen Intern Med. 2005;20:800–6. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Karter AJ, Ferrara A, Darbinian JA, Ackerson LM, Selby JV. Self-monitoring of blood glucose: language and financial barriers in a managed care population with diabetes. Diabetes Care. 2000;23:477–83. - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources