Differences in postoperative communication patterns among patients with limited English proficiency following radical cystectomy for bladder cancer.

Introduction: Consistent urologic oncology follow-up after radical cystectomy (RC) improves survival. However, there is scarce literature describing postoperative communication. We aimed to identify differences in postoperative communication patterns and healthcare utilization among English-speaking patients (ESPs) and patients with limited English proficiency (LEP) following RC.

Methods: We conducted a single-institution, retrospective cohort study, examining patients who underwent RC for bladder cancer. We used propensity score matching to match 50 ESPs and 50 patients with LEP on age and sex. We abstracted patient demographics, postoperative communication and healthcare utilization within 90 days of surgery. We fit multivariable linear regression to investigate factors associated with postoperative communication frequency.

Results: Postoperative communication was common, with 82% of patients placing ≥1 phone call/message. ESPs communicated more than patients with LEP (6.04 vs. 3.80 average calls/messages), though this difference was not statistically significant (P = 0.08). ESPs were more likely to initiate the communication themselves and have postoperative communication result in reassurance from the surgical team (P = 0.03), while patients with LEP were more likely to have a family member communicate on their behalf (P < 0.001) and have postoperative communication result in outpatient evaluation/treatment (P = 0.01). Patients with a neobladder reconstruction placed an increased number of phone calls/messages. There were no differences in postoperative healthcare utilization between the 2 groups.

Conclusions: Postoperative communication is frequent following RC. ESPs communicated nearly twice as often as patients with LEP, suggesting a clinically relevant difference in patient communication following radical cystectomy. Primary language spoken is not associated with differences in postoperative healthcare utilization.