A lack of Spanish-language translations for medicine instructions is putting American patients at risk of overdosing or underdosing, a study by Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine has found.

The study of 764 pharmacies across four US states with high Latino populations found that only 43.3% could provide translated instructions for their medications, and many of those that did come with translations were often wrong.

Lead study author Stacy Cooper Bailey said, "The numbers are much worse than I anticipated... The lack of translation for prescription medication instructions is a major problem...taking medications incorrectly could cause serious problems or even death."

The study highlights the importance of taking into account language difference and the quality of translations across all industries, particularly in sectors such as health, where a mistranslation can have more dire consequences than just confusion or embarrassment. For more on this story, click here.

tags: Pharmaceutical Translations