Immigrants Less Likely to Take Medications

NEWS RELEASE
For immediate release

Contact: Rebecca Lentz, College of Pharmacy, 612.624.7654
Sara E. Buss, Academic Health Center, 612.624.2449

U of M FINDS MEDICATION COMPLIANCE A PROBLEM AMONG IMMIGRANTS
Non-English speaking patients more likely to not take medications

MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (Feb. 28, 2005) -- Despite the availability of translators in doctors’ offices, non-English speaking patients aren’t as compliant with taking medication as English-speaking patients, according to a study by University of Minnesota researchers.

College of Pharmacy researchers found that 31 percent of non-English speaking patients didn’t adhere to medication instructions compared with 12 percent of English-speaking patients.  The results of this study were recently published in the Journal of the American Pharmacists Association.  Of those non-English speaking patients who did not adhere to therapy, 54 percent did not understand the prescribed instructions, compared to 14 percent of English-speaking patients.  The lack of understanding led patients to not take their medication at all or not take them properly, the study found.

“Even though they may have access to interpreters in the clinic when they see their physician, language barriers may prevent patients from experiencing reinforcement of information in pharmacies,” said Sarah Westberg, Pharm.D., lead author on the study and an assistant professor at the College of Pharmacy, Duluth.

Westberg and College of Pharmacy Associate Professor Todd Sorensen conducted the study. “Non-English speaking patients often don’t get the information that others receive. They can’t read the bottle. They can’t read the leaflet,” Sorensen said.

In 2003, 12 percent of the U.S. population was born in a country other than the U.S., according to the U.S. Census Bureau. In 1970, that number stood at 4.7 percent. In 2003, 6.1 percent of Minnesota’s population was born in another country, up from 5.3 percent in 2000.

One-third of immigrants lack health insurance, according to estimates. 

Westberg interviewed patients at the Community-University Health Care Center in Minneapolis. CUHCC provides a wide range of services to a diverse population and offers full translation services to its patients. CUHCC houses a pharmaceutical care clinic, where pharmacists meet with patients to identify, resolve, and prevent drug therapy problems that can adversely affect patient care.

Westberg found that once patients leave the clinic they are frequently unable to receive instructions in their native language, unable to communicate with the pharmacists in their communities, and unable to read the instructions and patient information they received.

In addition to English, she identified six primary languages—Vietnamese, Hmong, Laotian, Somali, Spanish, and Cambodian—spoken by clinic patients. To determine the availability of pharmacy-based services for non-English speaking patients, Westberg contacted about 40 pharmacies in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. Seven pharmacies were able to provide printed instructions in a language other than English. Not all seven pharmacies were able to provide the information verbally.

Despite the presence of these pharmacies, patients may not be able to get to those pharmacies because they lack transportation, the authors say. And many patients also were unaware that pharmacies provided services in languages other than English.

The profession of pharmacy hasn’t done a good job looking at language as a barrier to taking medication properly, Westberg said.

 “Pharmacy must make the necessary adjustments in daily practices to accommodate patients of all demographics and education levels,” the authors reported.

The College of Pharmacy, the only school of pharmacy in Minnesota, offers its program on the Twin Cities and Duluth campuses. Founded in 1892, the College of Pharmacy educates pharmacists and scientists and engages in research and practice to improve the health of the people of Minnesota and society. The college is part of the Academic Health Center, which is home to the University of Minnesota’s six health professional schools and colleges as well as several health-related centers and institutes.

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