In one of my classes, we took one class session away from learning new material and used that time to look back on what we learned so far and how we can integrate that in real life. During the “therapeutic integration” session, we learned about cultural humility and the use of medical interpreters. We discussed about how we can implement in our practice as a pharmacist to enhance patient care. From a consultation video that we watched, I was able to catch some positives and negatives. Some positives were that the professional medical interpreter was able to translate what the doctor said almost word for word and did not miss important information. Interpreter was able to reference and explain patient’s culture to the doctor, which provided better understanding for the doctor. Some parts where there can be improvements were that doctor used relatively long sentences and words that the patient may have had trouble understanding, which caused patient to ask follow up questions. Also, the position of the interpreter and the doctor could have been modified so that the patient can hear the interpreter better and so that the patient sitting down and both doctor and interpreter standing over him did not made him feel uncomfortable.
I learned that in order to enhance patient encounters/care as a pharmacist, I plan on being more open minded about patients’ culture. I learned that it is important to acknowledge different cultures because they may have differences in healthcare system and uses of medications. I hope to become a pharmacist who can create a comfortable environment for the patient to openly talk about his/her concerns despite whatever cultural background they may have.
During my last co-op at an outpatient pharmacy, I used the telephone professional interpreter services many times during my shifts. Some patients who have used the pharmacy for a longer time knew that we have this service available for non-english speaking patients. However, some patients did not know about the service and tried to speak mixed languages to me. Whenever I answered phone calls, I am usually multi-tasking by typing electronically prescribed prescriptions. I tried to answer and explain as much as I can in english and if the patient still had a hard time understanding, I would call an interpreter. It is sometimes very time consuming to wait for an interpreter to be connected over the phone. However, one thing I learned from this session is that it is important to make use of the service that a pharmacy has in order to prevent any miscommunication between me and the patient.
