The Importance of Medical Translation Services for Business

The importance of medical translation lies in its ability to facilitate effective communication, promote patient safety, and ensure the accurate dissemination of medical information.

Medical translation services play a crucial role in preserving and enhancing human life, as millions of people worldwide seek medical treatment every day. In this article, we will explore the importance of medical translation services in the well-being of the medical industry.

1. Ensure accurate patient care

Medical translation services are crucial in ensuring that patients receive the best possible treatment and care. Patients have the right to receive understandable explanations from their doctors, regardless of the language they speak. However, with more people living as ex-pats, providing language access to all patients is a challenging task for clinics and hospitals. Relying on bilingual relatives or staff members for medical translation can create confusion and lead to missed diagnoses.

Professional interpreters and translators have become essential players in the health services industry to bridge this communication gap. In the US, about 8 percent of the population is considered Limited English Proficient (LEP), making communication a barrier between patients and healthcare providers. This barrier can result in misunderstandings and physical harm to patients. A Canadian study revealed that language barriers are also associated with fewer resources for health education. Patients who are not confident in English are less likely to receive preventive care, rarely participate in cancer screening, and receive fewer mental health services.

Having a professional translator to rely on is an essential part of the medical act. Translators enable specialists to obtain a complete medical history of the patient and learn all the details about any possible symptoms. Patients can understand their medical conditions and follow the treatment plan correctly, improving their chances of a speedy recovery.

Hospitals, clinics, and other healthcare providers should also have a series of translated documents available for LEPs, including signage, eligibility criteria notices for patients, information forms and consent documents, notices of free language assistance, discharge instructions, and clinical trial documents. These documents give patients access to important information that can help them make informed decisions about their health.

2. Enhance doctor’s study and practice 

Medical translation services help medical staff study and work more effectively. The migration of physicians to different countries has brought about many changes in the medical care system worldwide. In countries like the UK, 11 percent of staff and 26 percent of doctors are non-native English speakers. The European Union has also seen an influx of more than 72,000 doctors from foreign countries in the past two decades. In the US, a quarter of the physicians were born outside the country. However, physicians must learn new languages when working in foreign countries, and medical terminology can be particularly challenging to grasp, especially at the beginning.

The medical literature, books, journals, and research should be available to physicians worldwide in their native languages. Medical translators facilitate communication and make information available to all specialists, regardless of their native languages. This ensures that medical standards are consistent worldwide, and medical providers can train their specialists to the same standards.

Additionally, even though many of these specialists may speak good English, having materials available in their native languages allows them to better understand and learn new information. This is also true for all staff working in hospitals, clinics, and other medical services providers. In this field, understanding the given instructions is crucial to providing patients with the best care possible.

In the global era, medical translation is even more essential as modern medicine has no borders. Information needs to travel quickly to allow communication between multinational teams of specialists in both practice and research. Medical translators provide accuracy and efficiency, ensuring that even the smallest mistake does not make the difference between life and death.

3. The importance of medical translation for consistent growth 

The pharmaceutical industry plays a critical role in providing patients with innovative and effective treatments. However, to ensure that these treatments are available to patients worldwide, the industry needs accurate medical localization services.

The importance of medical translation can be seen in imported medications, which require translated documents to be approved by national authorities. Inaccurate or incomplete documentation can lead to a medication being banned in certain countries or deemed unsuitable for human consumption. This is why proper medical translation is essential for companies in the industry to comply with local regulations and develop the necessary documentation for market approval.

In addition, accurate translations allow doctors to treat their patients using the latest medical discoveries, and patients can understand their treatment and what to expect. A small error in translation can lead to a lack of trust between doctors and their patients, and bad translations can cause panic among patients who may misunderstand their diagnosis, treatment, or the side effects of their medication.

Translators and language service providers can work with a wide range of documents, including clinical trials, patents, case reports, protocol documents, and synopses. They are also responsible for translating critical information that patients receive, such as storage instructions, dosage forms, side effects, warnings, expiration dates, contraindications, drug interactions, and frequency of use.

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3. Can get precise medical translations

The medical industry is responsible for the health and well-being of people. Inaccurate or misunderstood information exposes patients to potential harm, which can have devastating consequences. Therefore, it is critical that all information related to patient records, drug ingredients and instructions, doctor’s diagnoses, medical software, and more, are accurately translated and localized. To ensure the accuracy of your documents, you should seek the services of high-quality medical localization providers. 

Why GTE Localize?

The importance of medical translation cannot be denied, yet it is a complex task that requires consideration of various factors such as the target audience, culture, laws, usability, and more. Therefore, it is crucial to work with a reliable and trustworthy medical translation services provider to ensure high-quality translations. GTE Localize, a highly-evaluated agency in the translation and localization industry, is a recommended option if you are searching for such a provider. 

We supported various medical businesses such as Abbott, Bio-rad, Thermo Fisher, etc. in translating medical content effectively and on time, you can learn more about our medical device translation portfolio now.

Our core values include:

• 100% Native Translators: We have a team of over 1200 native translators with high qualifications and experience in medical domains. They have Bachelor’s Degrees in translation and are qualified for an MBA, MSc, or Ph.D. in medicine, pharmaceuticals, and more. They also have at least 5 years of experience in translating medical documents for many companies.

• Lifetime Warranty Policy: GTE Localize provides clients with a lifetime warranty for our medical translation services. We use qualified translators and the latest technology in the translation and localization industry to guarantee the accuracy of every content translated and localized by us, regardless of service, deadline, or price.

• Cost-effective Medical Translations: We use technology such as Translation Memory and CAT tools in our procedures, which not only streamline our workflow but also reduce costs for our clients. We ensure that every dollar you spend with us is utilized effectively.

Contact us today to kick off your medical translation campaign! We provide free consultancy and a 300-word-long test to understand your project better. 

If you are interested in localization strategy for SMEs, you can download our white paper here.