Why Prescription Language is the Next Frontier of Patient Safety

For millions of patients with limited English proficiency (LEP) in the US, deciphering the instructions on a prescription label can be a daily complexity that raises safety and medical risks. As the pharmacy industry works around the clock to vocalize and address some of health care’s most pressing issues, experts believe these language barriers can be detrimental without the proper support.

On this week's episode of Over the Counter, we were joined by Sharon Blank, CEO of Language Scientific and RxTran, for a conversation on the language gaps quietly undermining medication adherence, as well as the outsized role pharmacists play in closing them.

Blank opened with the stakes: LEP patients are a growing share of every major US metro, clustering exactly in the chronic disease populations—diabetes, cardiovascular disease, behavioral health—where adherence determines whether someone stays well or ends up back in the hospital. One study of more than 400,000 hospitalized adults found patiets with LEP had 33% higher odds of 7-day readmission, even after adjusting for clinical and demographic factors.

According to Blank, the problem is that pharmacists are often left to fill the gap with makeshift tools, like Google Translate, while absorbing the professional and legal risk when a translation goes wrong.

Her fix rests on 4 pillars: licensed pharmacist-verified translations, a controlled instruction library, direct integration into pharmacy software, and full coverage of the languages patients actually speak. Furthermore, with states like Washington set to mandate compliance by 2027, Blank's message to pharmacists is clear: Lead on patient safety now, rather than wait to be forced.

Listen through this week’s episode to learn more about the compounding issue of language barriers and medication adherence while finding out how Blank’s organizations are attempting to reverse these population-wide trends.

Stay tuned for weekly podcast episodes of Over the Counter powered by Drug Topics. Check out our most recent episode with Richard Dion, PharmD, who discussed opioid stewardship and how medication-based pain management is undergoing a revolution.