The aim of the proposed project is to develop an application for use on a touch screen computer that allows patients with limited English proficiency (LEP) to input information about their use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in their own language so that the data can be relayed to healthcare providers in English. The primary objective of Phase II is to develop a fully-functional prototype of the envisioned system in English, Chinese, and Korean, including an extensive CAM database in these languages. Hospital outpatient clinics and community health centers with high populations of monolingual Chinese &Korean speakers will be recruited to test the prototype in order to evaluate its effectiveness for raising CAM awareness among providers, facilitating patient-provider discussion, and increasing overall patient safety and satisfaction.

Public Health Relevance

The objective of the proposed research is to develop a multilingual software application designed for use on a touchscreen computer. It will facilitate communication about complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) usage between patients with limited English proficiency (LEP) and healthcare providers. CAM can result in adverse patient outcomes (e.g., herb-drug interactions and infections) if improperly administered, thus it is essential for healthcare providers to be aware of the alternative therapies patients may be using. Despite the high prevalence of CAM use among LEP populations, discussions regarding CAM are infrequent due to linguistic and cultural barriers;these barriers can be mitigated by the proposed tool, leading to increased awareness of CAM among providers, patient safety, and overall patient satisfaction.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (NICHD)
Type
Small Business Innovation Research Grants (SBIR) - Phase II (R44)
Project #
2R44HD055719-02
Application #
7672598
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1-HOP-E (10))
Program Officer
Ansel, Beth
Project Start
2007-08-05
Project End
2012-08-31
Budget Start
2009-09-01
Budget End
2010-08-31
Support Year
2
Fiscal Year
2009
Total Cost
$1,216,255
Indirect Cost
Name
Transcendent International, LLC
Department
Type
DUNS #
111850900
City
New York
State
NY
Country
United States
Zip Code
10018