Language problems at the pharmacy

There is nothing more baffling than trying to understand directions and instructions provided in a language other than your own. Imagine, then, the hazards involved when drug store customers are unable to communicate with pharmacists or to read the label or the printed material that routinely accompanies prescriptions. Such failures to communicate are extremely dangerous and could have life-threatening consequences.

The problem, once limited to cities with large immigrant populations, is increasingly commonplace. Pharmacists in Southeast Tennessee and Northwest Georgia report increasing numbers of clients whose only language is Spanish, or who are studying English but are not yet conversant enough to read or grasp sometimes complicated drug labels or instructions. The linguistic divide understandably worries those charged by law to properly dispense prescription drugs as well as to counsel purchasers on how they should be used.

The problem has reached critical mass in New York state, where about 20 percent of the population is foreign born and an estimated 170 languages are spoken. Officials in New York City, for example, say about half of the residents there speak a language other than English at home. While those numbers are unlikely to be matched here, the manner in which New York has addressed the language-barrier issue is nonetheless instructive.

In an agreement brokered by state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, major pharmacy chains have agreed to provide prescription drug customers with information in the purchaser’s native language. The agreement enhances laws, similar to those in other states, that require pharmacists to personally provide information about the dosage, purpose and side effects of the drugs and to do so in a non-discriminatory manner.

Meeting the mandate will require the pharmacies, which include many of the largest chains in the New York, to provide written information in the most widely used foreign languages in the state. Many stores will install phones that connect customers with third-party translators. Many of those phones will have dual handsets so both pharmacist and customer can speak to the interpreter. Those services aren’t cheap, but the investment will help reduce misunderstandings that could produce catastrophic results.

Pharmacies in Tennessee and Georgia aren’t legally required to provide translation services, but many stores, thankfully, already provide similar assistance. Some use software programs that can produce labels and instructions in various languages. Others have phone or computer systems that permit a pharmacist here to speak with a colleague elsewhere who is fluent in another language. Such services are invaluable.

Pharmacists and their customers share a vested interest in a useful exchange of data that is vital to good health care. In an increasingly multilingual nation, providing instructions and other information in a language easily understood by the consumer when a prescription is dispensed is welcome and possibly life-saving.