Language barriers between patients and their physicians impact care. And recently five UCF medical students presented their research at a national conference on ways to improve outcomes — from broken bones to cancer — for patients who don’t speak English as their native language.

The students shared their research at the National Latino Medical Student Conference at the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine. The event brought together more than 1,000 medical and premedical students, physicians and other healthcare professionals committed to improving health for the fastest-growing ethnic population in the United States.

Second-year students, Christian Guerrero and Isabela Futuro De Lima, based their research on their experience caring for patients at the student-run KNIGHTS (Keeping Neighbors In Good Health Through Service) Clinic at Orlando’s Grace Medical Home. The clinic provides care to Orlando’s uninsured residents.

The students surveyed KNIGHTS patients whose primary language is English, Spanish and Portuguese to determine their knowledge of cervical cancer screening guidelines to see if there were disparities in health literacy based on the patient’s English fluency. They found that 100% of English and Portuguese-speaking patients answered correctly compared with 50% of the Spanish-speaking group. The difference was especially concerning because the Spanish speakers expressed confidence in their knowledge of cancer screenings before taking the survey.

Based on their research, the students want to create patient education materials in Spanish, a change they hope will help empower KNIGHTS patients to feel more in control of their health.

“I know [that] living in Florida and being from Florida, a lot of people that I’m going to interact with are going to [either] be bilingual, predominantly Spanish speaking or have English as a second language,” Guerrero says. “As a result, I am more incentivized and more motivated to brush up on my medical Spanish while also maintaining a curious mindset with patients. This allows me to get the full picture of why they are feeling the way they feel, and pick up any information that may be vital to their care.”

Tracy MacIntosh, associate dean of access, belonging and community engagement, says that student research like this advances healthcare for all.

“Our students understand that healthcare disparities exist for too many of our patients,” she says, “and in turn, many have chosen research projects that will help to close these quality and outcomes gaps and ensure that every member of our society can receive the highest quality of care.”

Here is a summary of other research topics presented by UCF medical students:

Pascal Escobar researched femur fractures, focusing specifically on “nonunion,” a condition where the bone fails to heal properly after surgery. He examined how factors like age, gender, ethnicity and smoking can increase the risk of poor healing. He says his research was motivated by the rising number of femur fractures in older adults, which can severely affect their quality of life through pain, mobility loss and emotional stress. His study found that smokers, men and individuals from lower socioeconomic backgrounds are more likely to experience complications, and that Blacks and Hispanics often have worse outcomes due to limited access to quality healthcare and financial difficulties. By identifying these at-risk groups, Escobar hopes healthcare providers can better identify patients who are more likely to face complications after a femur fracture and offer more personalized care and follow-up treatments.

Joel Hernandez researched the need for better health literacy interventions among Spanish speakers in the U.S. After reviewing 2,823 studies from community and clinical settings, he found that only 62 actually reflected the demographics of the communities they serve. Many of the studies showed a high risk of bias because they excluded Spanish speakers, especially men, older adults and children. His research showed that in-person and multimedia interventions were more positive in increasing health literacy among Spanish speakers, but also found that providers and policy makers do not have a consensus on the best strategies and tools to use to determine health literacy among Hispanics. Hernandez says that his research was motivated by his experience learning English and translating for his parents.

Noah Defauwes researched the risks of Candida, a dangerous and invasive fungal infection, in over 16,800 children who received stem cell transplants over a 20-year period. The research found that one in 14 children developed the infection, which can severely affect those with weakened immune systems, potentially leading to heart attacks, the need for breathing machines and/or dialysis, and acute graft versus host disease. The infection is more common in teenage boys and individuals who receive transplants using umbilical cord blood. Despite medical advances, the prevalence and mortality associated with Candida infections in stem cell transplant recipients from 1997-2016 remained unchanged. Defauwes says he hopes to better understand and identify trends and high-risk patients to help healthcare teams prioritize prevention and early treatment.