Published online August 1, 2007
PEDIATRICS Vol. 120 No. 2 August 2007, pp. e225-e235 (doi:10.1542/peds.2006-3151)
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when eLetters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow E-mail this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My File Cabinet
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Bradshaw, M.
Right arrow Articles by Flores, G.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Bradshaw, M.
Right arrow Articles by Flores, G.
Related Collections
Right arrow Office Practice
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Facebook   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

ARTICLE

Language Barriers to Prescriptions for Patients With Limited English Proficiency: A Survey of Pharmacies

Michael Bradshaw, BSa, Sandra Tomany-Korman, MSa and Glenn Flores, MDb,c

a Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
b Division of General Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas
c Children's Medical Center, Dallas, Texas

BACKGROUND. Twenty-three million Americans have limited English proficiency. Language barriers can have major adverse consequences in health care, but little is known about whether pharmacies provide adequate care to patients with limited English proficiency.

OBJECTIVES. We sought to evaluate pharmacies' ability to provide non–English-language prescription labels, information packets, and verbal communication, and assess pharmacies' satisfaction with communication with patients who have limited English proficiency.

METHODS. We used a cross-sectional, mixed-methods survey of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, pharmacies. Survey questions addressed sociodemographic and language-service characteristics of pharmacies. A pharmacist or technician at each pharmacy was asked 45 questions by telephone, fax, or mail. The main outcome measures were the ability of pharmacies to provide non–English-language prescription labels, information packets, and verbal communication; and pharmacy satisfaction with communication with patients who have limited English proficiency.

RESULTS. Of 175 pharmacies, 73% responded. Forty-seven percent of the pharmacies never/only sometimes can print non–English-language prescription labels, 54% never/only sometimes can prepare non–English-language information packets, and 64% never/only sometimes can verbally communicate in non-English languages. Eleven percent use patients' family members/friends to interpret. Only 55% were satisfied with their communication with patients who have limited English proficiency. In multivariate analyses, community pharmacies had significantly lower odds of being able to verbally communicate in non-English languages, whereas pharmacies using telephone interpreting services had significantly higher odds. Pharmacies' suggestions for improving patient communication included continuing education, producing a chain-wide list of resources, hiring bilingual staff, using telephone interpreters, analyzing translation quality/accuracy of labels and information packets, and adding more languages to pharmacy software.

CONCLUSIONS. Approximately half of Milwaukee pharmacies never/only sometimes can provide non–English-language prescription labels or information packets, and approximately two thirds never/only sometimes can verbally communicate in non-English languages. One in 9 pharmacies that verbally communicate in non-English languages use patients' family members/friends to interpret. Almost half of the pharmacies are dissatisfied with their communication with patients who have limited English proficiency. Community pharmacies are less likely and pharmacies using telephone interpreting services are more likely to be able to verbally communicate in non-English languages. Study findings indicate that improvements in pharmacies' communication with patients who have limited English proficiency may result by increasing the quality and number of non-English languages in existing computer programs, hiring bilingual staff, and using telephone interpreting services when in-person interpreters are unavailable.

Key Words: health disparities • pharmacy • language or communication barriers • language services • limited English proficiency • health services accessibility

Abbreviations: NEL—non-English language • LEP—limited English proficiency • IQR—interquartile range • OR—odds ratio • CI—confidence interval

Accepted Jan 25, 2007.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Facebook Facebook   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 The Annals of PharmacotherapyHome page
B. Edouard
Who Cites Non-English-Language Pharmaceutical Articles?
Ann. Pharmacother., March 1, 2009; 43(3): 549 - 550.
[Full Text] [PDF]