Language Barrier Leads to Prescription Errors

Patients who have only a limited understanding of English, or none at all, are at a serious risk of medication errors, claims a new study.

Researchers at The New York Academy of Medicine (NY, USA) randomly selected 200 pharmacies from the 2,186 licensed pharmacies in New York City (NY, USA) in 2006. Participating pharmacies included independent drugstores, chains, and outpatient hospital and clinic pharmacies. The researchers found that while 88% of surveyed New York City pharmacists reported serving limited English-proficient (LEP) customers daily, only 34% reported translating labels daily, despite 80% reporting the ability to do so. Another 26% never translate labels. Fewer than 10% of pharmacies reported posted signs to inform customers that translated labels are available.

Pharmacists cited a number of barriers to improved language access, including the need for additional translation tools (24%) and bilingual personnel (20%). Five percent cited legal concerns; specifically, they fear being held liable if they print medication information in a language that they do not understand and fail to spot a flawed translation. Others cited time (7%) and cost (7%) constraints. The study was presented at the annual meeting of the Society for General Internal Medicine (SGIM) held during April 2007 in Toronto (Ontario, Canada).

"Imagine, as an English speaker, picking up a prescription with a label in Chinese--you have no idea what it says. Many New York immigrants face such high-risk gaps in our health-care services when presented with a medication bottle in English,” said lead author Linda Weiss, Ph.D,. "New York City pharmacies would engage in good health and business practices by providing labels and health counseling in languages their patients understand.”


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The New York Academy of Medicine