Quality assurance in medical translation

Medical translation is of particular importance in the world of medicine or pharmaceutical research, but it is rarely the focus of health researchers if the wrong translation does not cause serious clinical consequences, including medical or life-threatening, or causes litigation or financial statements. Therefore, it is critical to guarantee sufficient quality standards in medical translation and interpretation.

Although medical translation does not occupy the most central position in the medical world, this, of course, plays an important role in mediation. Separation of medical research results, disclosure of new research results in the international scientific community and the marketing of new medicinal products and medical devices are the main features of this role of translation. In addition to books, articles and presentations, the translation of medical texts primarily includes registration documents, such as patient records for the registration of new medicines and medical prescriptions, as well as operating instructions for medical equipment and instruments and documents for clinical trials. Medical translators who are responsible for intermediary professional communication should have considerable expert knowledge of the language and the subject domain. In addition, written materials, such as examinations, patient’s consent, information inserts to medicines, leaflets, etc. should be made available to foreign patients for whom their own knowledge of a foreign language may not be enough. This is often done by medical translators who specialize in communication between the doctor and the patient. Medical written and oral translators facilitate the communication process between patients and health professionals. If this process is violated, this can lead to life-threatening situations if the physician is unable to obtain information from the patient and vice versa.

Medical translation plays a supporting role in medical research and practice, but it is also worth remembering that medicine is one of the largest areas that need translation. Medical translation can be the most universal and oldest form of scientific translation because of the ubiquity of human anatomy and physiology (after all, the human body is almost the same everywhere), this is facilitated by a long, respectable and well-documented history of medicine and to this day the homogeneous character of the language medicine.

There is an increasing trend in health communication to focus on the patient and it is now generally recognized that there is a need for competent medical translators and interpreters to facilitate mediation in the interlingual and intercultural medical environment leading to many translators specializing in this particular area throughout the world. It seems, however, that the quality of the medical translation is subject to improvement, which is especially relevant for the training of an interpreter and qualifications, and measures to monitor compliance with the agreement used to detect translation errors in medical texts. This is because quality becomes a problem of vital importance when a translation or interpretation error affects the quality of medical care or the reliability of data collected during clinical trials.

Consequences of errors in medical translation

he reason why the quality of medical translation is so important is that a translation error can initiate serious clinical consequences. Translation errors in scientific articles and views may influence the author’s reputation. Medical services can be adversely affected if the translation is misleading the doctor or patient, or if an important part of the medical information can not be translated accurately, then as a result the patient can not be diagnosed or treated correctly.

Not only is the wrong translation, which may have clinical consequences, plays an important role. Readability is also a critical issue. Patients do not follow written treatment recommendations when they lack the clarity that may occur in the patient’s translated information sheets. Failure to follow the recommended instructions on the use of medications can potentially threaten your health.

Appropriate quality assurance procedures thus help to eliminate errors and improve the clarity of translated medical documents, ensuring that competent professionals and control measures are provided to detect incorrect translations, inconsistencies

Quality assurance in medical translation обновлено: December 22, 2017 автором: azurit