OTC or prescription: drug info languages
Jinfo Blog

30th August 2010

By Joanna Ptolomey

Item

In the world of healthcare we are all on our own individual patient journeys to varying degrees. In a recent report from the US Department of Health and Human Services, Healthy People 2010 (http://www.healthypeople.gov/), the efficacy and outcomes of any drug intervention you may take could be highly dependent on your literacy levels. This information has been well evidenced over many years and indeed much of healthcare research today is concerned around the inequalities that exist in society and the associated health outcomes. Literacy is a key factor in health outcomes. The Healthy People 2010 report confirms again that 'the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions' has a direct outcome on health and has an economic impact on society. Perhaps like me you take regular prescribed medication for a chronic health condition. Or you may have had a recent acute situation where you may or may not have been hospitalised, but you would certainly be prescribed medication(s). You may be lucky and not fall into either of these categories and have a regime for keeping yourself in tip top condition by preventative measures – some of these may involve over the counter (OTC) medications. Your ability to follow and understand the instructions has a direct impact on your health – knowledge, compliance, safety and on-going management are real issues in drug therapies. As an information specialist I have been involved in many health literacy programmes for health care providers. This includes developing health information resources in non-English language and easy read formats/plain language. The client groups can be culturally diverse with English as a second language and also people with low literacy levels. It is with great interest that the launch of a new product from Gold Standard/Elsevier (http://www.goldstandard.com/) has caught my eye – MEDcounselor Languages (http://digbig.com/5bcghj). MEDcounselor languages provides consumer medication information in 12 languages. The information provided should help patients better understand their drug therapy and take medications safely. The new languages offered include Arabic, Bengali, Chinese, Creole (Haitian), French, Japanese, Italian, Korean, Polish, Russian, Tagalog and Vietnamese. Spanish and English were offered before and new languages will be available from 2011. MEDcounselor Languages offers content on the most frequently used US prescription and over-the-counter drugs. This includes medication uses, interactions and side effects, printable patient handouts and compliance with US national standards. Health information literacy is a key factor affecting health outcomes for societies. Although drug interventions may only be one part of a patient journey it is nevertheless crucial. Dramatically this could mean life or death, but in a more subtle way it can empower a person to manage and be in charge of their healthcare and health outcomes personally and responsibly. And that is a win-win situation for patients and society.

« Blog