– Getting good guidance in a language you understand can be decisive, says Mila Løw-Hansen. She is from Ukraine and works as a pharmacist at Solsiden in Trondheim. The pharmacy she works in is involved in a pilot project which involves more people getting information about their medicines in a language they can understand. – We experience that many people with a minority background do not get the information they need to use their medicines correctly, says Hanne Andersen. She is professional director of Apotekforeininga, which is behind the project. Valentyna Dubrova is from Ukraine, and was too old to be prioritized on a Norwegian language course when she came to Norway. Fortunately, she can use her mother tongue in a meeting with pharmacist Mila Løw-Hansen. Photo: Jøte Toftaker / news 12 different languages If you start a new medicine for cardiovascular disease or diabetes, you can get extra guidance at the pharmacy. But for people who don’t speak Norwegian very well, it can be a challenge to understand. As part of the project, nine pharmacies in Trondheim, Tromsø, Stavanger, Oslo and Bergen offer this guidance in a total of 12 different languages. The first interview will be held one week after commencement, and the second interview after three to five weeks. They also provide guidance over the phone. The goal is to prevent people from using their medication incorrectly. It can lead to unfortunate side effects or the medicine not working as it should. Medicine had no effect Løw-Hansen speaks both Ukrainian and Russian, and has experienced several times that the follow-up has been important. Among other things, in a meeting with a person with diabetes, who received medicine via syringe. – The syringes have two caps, but she only took one of them away. Then the spray had no effect at all, she says. Another patient experienced major side effects from the medicine she had received, and therefore stopped using it. – Then I contact the doctor, and now she has received new medicine, says Hansen. These languages are included in the project: English Arabic French Spanish Ukrainian Urdu Turkish Polish Persian Serbian Vietnamese Kurdish Kurmanji Source: Apotekforeningen – Can become life-threatening Berit Berg is a researcher at NTNU Society Research. She says that minority linguists experience language as particularly challenging when dealing with the healthcare system. – Everything about health information can be challenging. If arrangements are not made so that those who need it get an interpreter, it can create serious situations, she says. Berg says that many people find it difficult to ask for help with languages. They have a good enough everyday language, but may not understand more complicated words that they don’t use very often. – If you don’t understand how medicines should be taken, this can be life-threatening in the worst case. Usage guidelines can be complicated enough for those who master Norwegian, and of course even more difficult for those whose mother tongue is not Norwegian. She says that patients have a clear right to receive information in their own language, and that it should be possible to facilitate this with digital solutions. – I think we need smart ways to do this. In smaller municipalities, it can be difficult to offer face-to-face linguistic facilitation. But regardless of the size of the municipality, it is possible to facilitate digital guidance in several languages, says Berg. Hoping to expand the offer Pharmacies that participated in the project have received good feedback. – We have experienced that it is very important for the patients that it applies, says Hansen. Andersen in the Pharmacy Association hopes that they can expand the offer when the project period expires at the end of the year. Hanne Andersen is professional director of Apotekforeininga. Photo: Kubrix / Apotekforeningen – We will evaluate it, look at the results and possibly publish an article about our experiences, she says. – So we want to enter into a dialogue with the authorities, because we want to offer this type of service to more residents, and to those who have other medicines than the two groups (patients with cardiovascular diseases and diabetes ed.mrk.).
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Many people use medicines incorrectly – Apotekforeininga tests guidance in 12 different languages - news Trøndelag – Local news, TV and radio
