Musings from an overworked translator

Language Services Resource Guide for Pharmacists August 4, 2009

One of my colleagues forwarded this e-mail to me today and I thought it might be of interest to some of you, so I thought I’d share it.

Dear Colleagues,

As you know, language barriers occur in all arenas of the healthcare delivery system, including pharmacy services where the risk is significant for unsafe use of prescription medications. LEP patients can suffer serious adverse effects, including those that arise from improper administration of, and/or adherence to, prescription and over-the-counter medications due to barriers in communication.

The National Health Law Program (NHeLP), with the generous support of The California Endowment and in collaboration with the National Alliance of State Pharmacy Associations and the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy, is developing a Language Services Resource Guide for Pharmacists. The purpose of the Guide is to provide pharmacists the necessary information and tools to improve the provision of language services. The National Council on Interpreting in Health Care (NCIHC) is proud to be collaborating with NHeLP in this endeavor and is gathering information from interpreting/translation associations and language companies that will be a key component of the guide.

If your organization is interested in being included in the Resource Guide, please complete the survey which can be found at: http://www.tinyurl.com/nhelpresourceupdate. We also request that you please forward this e-mail to any appropriate persons and organizations who may be interested as well. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Aida Cases or Jorge Ungo at: nhelpupdate@ncihc.org. If you would like more information about the Guide, contact Mara Youdelman at Youdelman@healthlaw.org.

Deadline for submissions: August 21, 2009