Provision of Bilingual Dispensing Labels to Non-Native English Speakers: An Exploratory Study

Patients with limited English proficiency living in the U.K. receive prescribed medication labels in English. These patients are at risk of worse health outcomes compared with the general population. This article describes a service evaluation of the use of bilingual dispensing labels to facilitate...

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Published inPharmacy Vol. 7; no. 1; p. 32
Main Authors Herrera, Helena, Alsaif, Murtada, Khan, Ghalib, Barnes, Nicola, Rutter, Paul
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Switzerland MDPI AG 25.03.2019
MDPI
Subjects
bilingual labels
Bilingualism
Communication
community pharmacy
Consent
Drug stores
Government archives
health literacy
Labeling
Language
language proficiency
medicine related adherence
Packaging
Patient admissions
Patient safety
Prescription drugs
Questionnaires
service implementation
Software
Translations
United Kingdom > UK
United States > US
service implementation
community pharmacy
health literacy
language proficiency
bilingual labels
medicine related adherence
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Summary:Patients with limited English proficiency living in the U.K. receive prescribed medication labels in English. These patients are at risk of worse health outcomes compared with the general population. This article describes a service evaluation of the use of bilingual dispensing labels to facilitate patient understanding of medicine administration instructions. Recruited patients answered two questionnaires to assess engagement with and understanding of their medicine labels. The first was completed at the point of dispensing, and the second within six weeks. Questionnaires were either self-completed or via facilitation over the telephone. A total of 151 participants completed the first questionnaire, and 130 completed the follow-up. Key findings highlighted the lack of engagement by participants with English-language labels and their reliance on asking for help from pharmacy staff, friends, or family to understand the information. However, when provided with information in their preferred language, they reported high levels of understanding and sought help less frequently from a third party. This study has shown that this service has improved understanding of labelling information in this target group.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
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ISSN:2226-4787
2226-4787
DOI:10.3390/pharmacy7010032