Health
Most N.Y. pharmacies can translate drug labels into Spanish, but few do
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted May 14, 2007
A study of 200 pharmacies in New York City revealed that few provide prescription medication labels in languages other than English, despite having the ability to do so, according to researchers at the New York Academy of Medicine, an independent, nonprofit institution. They presented their study April 27 at the annual meeting of the Society for General Internal Medicine in Toronto.
The researchers found that while 88% of participating pharmacists reported serving patients with limited English proficiency, only 34% translated medication labels daily.
The majority of the surveyed pharmacists, 77%, said they could print labels in Spanish; 12%, said they could print in Chinese, Russian or other languages.
A number said they prefer to translate verbally because it is more personal. However, the researchers found that while many pharmacies had Spanish-speaking staff, only 22% were legally qualified to provide medication counseling in New York state.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2007/05/14/hlbf0514.htm.
