Welcome!
Looking for a pharmacy in New York City that offers multilingual services to patients with limited English proficiency? Looking for background information and resources focused on language services in pharmacy settings? Look no further.
Limited English proficient (LEP) patients need health information and services in languages they can understand. Comprehensible prescription medication instructions are particularly important, given the serious implications of medication error, which can include poor medication efficacy, drug resistance, and the occurrence of additional health problems. Although pharmacies play an essential role in the provision of prescription medication information, only a limited (but growing!) number of pharmacies provide medication instructions in languages other than English.
The Center for Evaluation at The New York Academy of Medicine, working in collaboration with community based organizations, health care providers, health educators, pharmacist educators and others, has been seeking to understand and address language barriers in New York City pharmacies. Our work has included pharmacy and patient surveys, the development of a continuing education course for practicing pharmacists (in collaboration with the NYU's Center for Immigrant Health and St. John's University School of Pharmacy), and pilot interventions.
In partnership with The New York Immigration Coalition and their community based partner organizations, NYAM is developing a directory of pharmacies that provide multilingual instructions in the New York City area. We recognize the continuing need for improved language access services in pharmacies throughout New York and hope that this Directory will encourage best practices in this field in accordance with City and State law.
This website has been developed to serve as a resource language access in pharmacy settings, hosting:
- The growing directory of New York City pharmacies that provide multilingual services
- Reports, presentations, and bibliographies relevant to language access in pharmacy settings
- Background information describing the legal requirements for language services
- Links to other useful resources
We hope that this website will prove helpful and welcome your comments and input.
If you are a representative from a NYC pharmacy offering language services and would like to be featured on this site - or if you work in a health or language-related field and would like to recommend a pharmacy- please click here.
"We are grateful to the Altman Foundation for the funding related to this work, including development of this website."