TY - JOUR
T1 - Pharmacy-related health disparities experienced by non-English-speaking patients
T2 - Impact of pharmaceutical care
AU - Westberg, Sarah M.
AU - Sorensen, Todd D.
PY - 2005
Y1 - 2005
N2 - Objectives: To identify the availability of foreign language services in pharmacies near a medical clinic serving a large immigrant population and determine whether the type of observed drug therapy problems differed between English- and non-English-speaking patients at this clinic. Setting: A community health care center in a diverse neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Participants: 40 pharmacies near the clinic and in the surrounding Minneapolis-St. Paul area known to provide services to patients in languages in addition to English and 91 clinic patients, including 38 for whom English was not their primary language, seen for full pharmaceutical care assessments. Interventions: Comprehensive drug therapy assessments were conducted for English- and non-English-speaking patients (with assistance from interpreters) in a primary care setting secondary to physician referral. Patient-specific data and the results of the pharmacist's assessment were recorded in a patient management database. Main Outcome Measures: Language services provided by area pharmacies, frequency of drug therapy problems in English- and non-English-speaking patients, and the status of patient's medication conditions before and after provision of pharmaceutical care. Results: Of the six primary languages other than English (Vietnamese, Hmong, Laotian, Somali, Spanish, and Cambodian) spoken by clinic patients, written or verbal information was available for five languages in one or more area pharmacies. The clinic pharmacist completed comprehensive assessments for 91 patients via 230 patient encounters, identifying 186 drug therapy problems. Problems related to adherence were significantly more prevalent in non-English-speaking patients compared with English-speaking patients (31% versus 12%). In all 91 patients, the percentage achieving desired drug therapy outcomes improved by 24% after a pharmacist joined the team of clinic providers. Conclusion: Despite the availability of clinic-based interpreters and foreign language services in pharmacies, adherence-related problems are significantly more common in non-English-speaking patients. Pharmacists committed to providing pharmaceutical care must consider the impact of language barriers when working to optimize drug therapy outcomes.
AB - Objectives: To identify the availability of foreign language services in pharmacies near a medical clinic serving a large immigrant population and determine whether the type of observed drug therapy problems differed between English- and non-English-speaking patients at this clinic. Setting: A community health care center in a diverse neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Participants: 40 pharmacies near the clinic and in the surrounding Minneapolis-St. Paul area known to provide services to patients in languages in addition to English and 91 clinic patients, including 38 for whom English was not their primary language, seen for full pharmaceutical care assessments. Interventions: Comprehensive drug therapy assessments were conducted for English- and non-English-speaking patients (with assistance from interpreters) in a primary care setting secondary to physician referral. Patient-specific data and the results of the pharmacist's assessment were recorded in a patient management database. Main Outcome Measures: Language services provided by area pharmacies, frequency of drug therapy problems in English- and non-English-speaking patients, and the status of patient's medication conditions before and after provision of pharmaceutical care. Results: Of the six primary languages other than English (Vietnamese, Hmong, Laotian, Somali, Spanish, and Cambodian) spoken by clinic patients, written or verbal information was available for five languages in one or more area pharmacies. The clinic pharmacist completed comprehensive assessments for 91 patients via 230 patient encounters, identifying 186 drug therapy problems. Problems related to adherence were significantly more prevalent in non-English-speaking patients compared with English-speaking patients (31% versus 12%). In all 91 patients, the percentage achieving desired drug therapy outcomes improved by 24% after a pharmacist joined the team of clinic providers. Conclusion: Despite the availability of clinic-based interpreters and foreign language services in pharmacies, adherence-related problems are significantly more common in non-English-speaking patients. Pharmacists committed to providing pharmaceutical care must consider the impact of language barriers when working to optimize drug therapy outcomes.
KW - Asian American patients
KW - Community and ambulatory patients
KW - Community health center
KW - Culture
KW - English as second language
KW - Health outcomes
KW - Hispanic patients
KW - Patient care
KW - Pharmaceutical care
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U2 - 10.1331/1544345052843066
DO - 10.1331/1544345052843066
M3 - Article
C2 - 15730117
AN - SCOPUS:22244457343
SN - 1544-3191
VL - 45
SP - 48
EP - 54
JO - Journal of the American Pharmacists Association
JF - Journal of the American Pharmacists Association
IS - 1
ER -