What You Need To Know About Professional Healthcare Translation Services
Professional healthcare translation services help shorten the gap between patients and healthcare providers, ensuring both parties can understand each other for a smooth medical treatment/care procedure.
Let’s go into more important details of professional healthcare translation services which are to ensure that the meaning of the original text is conveyed accurately in the target language, and from then, that can make the proper diagnosis and treatment plans.
#1. Benefits of Professional Healthcare Translation Services
1.1. Get accurate healthcare translations
Given the complexity and importance of medical texts, the accuracy of translation is of the utmost importance. A translation that is not up to standard could be devastating for patients’ lives. Even a single mistake while translating a patient’s documents, medical history, and healthcare marketing materials into another language can lead to a misdiagnosis by medical practitioners, or a misunderstanding about the usage of a drug by patients, etc.
Therefore, healthcare companies who require translations will usually work with competent translation agencies, who can demonstrate accreditation and compliance with one or more internationally-recognized quality standards, rather than freelance translators. Whether you are looking to translate healthcare treatment plans or willing to help patients with important healthcare policies and processes, you can be assured of accurate translations.
1.2. Professional healthcare translation services: Confidential and compliant
Due to the regularly-changing laws and regulations, healthcare translators have to ensure that their translations comply with regulatory updates. For example, most countries have laws requiring that all literature and labels for pharmaceutical and medical equipment be translated into the local language(s).
To translate these materials, in addition to the depth of expertise needed, the translators must also take into account the intended use of each translation. This can range from documents required to perform clinical trials to product information for new medical devices, as the style and tone of voice of each translation should be appropriate for its audience. It makes no sense to use medical jargon on a dosage information page intended for patients because the readers would not be able to comprehend it.
Confidentiality and patient privacy are other significant factors that must be taken into account while dealing with healthcare translation. Because of this, translators who provide medical translation services must be well aware of HIPAA compliance. Particularly in medical translations, an error in translation is a matter of life and death. The HIPAA form is a United States legislation that offers data security and privacy measures to protect private medical data.
Protected health information refers to information that may be used to uniquely identify a person, such as a patient’s medical history, insurance details, test results, and other forms.
Due to the sensitive and confidential nature of healthcare translation, professional healthcare translation services frequently comply with binding Non-Disclosure agreements and also work with secure IT and file-sharing systems.
1.3. Improve patient care
Professional healthcare translation services are essential to providing quality care to foreign language speakers. Hospitals, emergency rooms, doctor’s offices, public health organizations, and nurses’ stations partner with translators to make the check-in process easier and obtain accurate patient information for patient records. Medical translation services assist the translation of medical records, consent forms, insurance claims, and medical histories.
Research labs also use language translators with the translation of clinical trials and research, as well as patents and licensing. Medical equipment manufacturers often seek translators to write manuals and instructions in the appropriate language for users, who will be using the equipment. Catalogs that contain descriptions of the equipment also need careful translations in order for customers to read and understand.
When healthcare practitioners understand their patients in detail and provide them with the necessary treatment information, patients will feel cared for, valued, and safe. Overall, the patient experience will be enhanced. Moreover, a streamlined and efficient claims management process ensures that healthcare providers can focus more on patient care, as it reduces administrative burdens and facilitates timely reimbursement, ultimately contributing to an improved patient experience.
1.4. Professional healthcare translation services: Decreases miscommunication
A healthcare professional must be sure that they understand a patient’s medical history, current medical prescriptions, and health concerns. For necessary procedures to be performed, a healthcare professional also requires clear, informed consent. Healthcare miscommunications can result in serious consequences, such as medical injuries, lawsuits, increased expenses, or the patient having several visits to get the care they require. That is why both healthcare seekers and providers need translators as an intermediate between them.
Professional healthcare translation services frequently work with patients’ medical histories, patient records, prescriptions, medical forms, and instructions, to ensure that patients and the providers of medical services can fully understand one another and that there is no miscommunication between them.
#2. Common Types of Professional Healthcare Translation Services
Here comes the common types of professional healthcare translation services.
2.1. General healthcare information
This refers to general medical information that is used for things like healthcare plans. This includes documents such as patient information sheets, insurance forms, and instructional materials.
2.2. Healthcare devices and software translation
This type of healthcare translation involves the translation of instructions for medical equipment and devices such as absorbable sutures, blood transfusion kits, catheters, CT (computed tomography) scanners, blood pressure cuffs, pregnancy test kits, and infusion pumps for intravenous drugs.
Before medical devices can legally be used in different countries and regions, they must meet crucial local regulatory criteria as well as language requirements. The content types might vary from packaging and marketing materials to detailed manuals. Medical device translation is often handled by subject matter specialists with local expertise and familiarity with legal requirements.
2.3. Training and learning material healthcare translation
Medical professionals undergo extensive training, and they continue to study throughout their careers. On the path of learning, there is a lot of educational material that has to be translated for medical students all around the world.
Also, depending on their specific field, medical professionals may need to study more than medical knowledge. For example, doctors need to complete a specific amount of conduct training and learn how to break the bad news to patients and families as well as their legal responsibilities in certain situations.
2.4. Professional medical translation services: Drug labeling and packaging
Drug labeling and packaging must always be 100% correct in the health industry. Mistakes in medical translation cannot be allowed since if one step is performed incorrectly, it might result in all kinds of lawsuits that nobody wants to get involved in.
The same thing goes for the wide range of devices used by doctors and surgeons. All warning labels, user guides, and other materials intended to prevent misuse must be accurately translated.
Drug labeling and packaging translation demand a qualified native-speaking specialist with experience and expertise in medical translation. For medical translations, word-for-word translations are insufficient. They require in-depth knowledge of the subject matter as well as the capacity to convey the true meaning of the text.
#3. Qualifications of Healthcare Translators That You Should Know
As you can see, there are different situations in which professional healthcare translation services are required. Each form of medical translation also has to be accurate and attentive to detail. This poses a question about the qualification of medical translators to work on different types of healthcare translation.
The following is a list of necessary qualifications:
- A healthcare translator should be a native speaker of the language they translate into.
- A healthcare translator should have a degree or certification in translation from a reputable institution.
- A healthcare translator should fully understand medical terminologies in both the source and target languages.
- A healthcare translator should be able to comprehend and convey the meaning of complicated healthcare text accurately.
These are some of the requirements for a competent medical translator. If you’re looking for professional healthcare translation services, remember to check if the translators have these qualifications.
For more healthcare and medical translation information, you can read these posts:
- 5 Tips to Prepare For Your Medical Translation of Devices
- How To Find Professional Medical Translation Partners?
- How to Have The Best Medical Translation Following The EU MDR?
#4. GTE Localize Provides Professional Healthcare Translation Services that Fit Your Needs
In the healthcare field, someone’s life could be put at risk by a misunderstanding. That is why experience, accuracy, and attention to detail are essential for all professional healthcare translation service carriers.
If you are seeking a reliable medical translation company embracing the three above qualities, look no further than GTE Localize, among the best healthcare translation companies on GoodFirms.
Our ability to provide accurate and professional healthcare translation services is demonstrated by our human and technological resources:
- Native linguists from all over the world who have acquired linguistic skills along with a degree in the medical field;
- A technology-driven translation company with the latest technologies applied such as CAT Tools, Localization Management Platforms, QA Tools, Self-built ERP, etc.);
- A lifetime warranty is offered for all of our healthcare translation and localization projects;
Contact us now to know further about each other and learn more about our professional healthcare translation services. We will give you a free consultancy and sample test!
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