It has been recognized that doing translation work it can be challenging may it be a technical translation, scientific translation, financial translation, legal translation, judicial translation, juridical translation, certified translation, literary translation, medical translation or any other type of translation services. Medical translation demands great skill as one mistake can cause some disorder. Like legal translation, medical translation deals with technical exercise and terminologies. The further taxing task of it involves translating marketing documentation, medical or pharmaceutical devices, training and/or software, regulatory, and clinical curriculum, etc.

When medical and pharmaceutical devices/ materials would be sold to a particular country, it is necessary to translate them to the language used by the locals. Documents used for clinical works or operations are as well needed to be translated. This is done so that the medicine practitioner and the patients of the locality can understand the instructions and information written in the documents. In addition to all these hassle translation works, there is also a necessity to translate the submission of requirements for the approval of the regulatory board with their particular language.

Medical Translation Steps to Follow

Just like other translation works, medical translation needs to undergo a process. The following would be the medical translation procedures.

• When translating a text, there should be a source document to be followed and taken out from.
• Follow the specified/designated language in translating the text content.
• As required, already translated text would be reviewed and revised by other individual to make sure that language nuances and terminologies are kept.
• The original format of the source will be kept from the translated text e.g. webpage, MS word document, etc.
• To be ensured that everything is precise and accurate, proofreading the translated text should be observed.
• Already translated text would undergo a country evaluation. The translated text should be analyzed and examined by a native speaker of the language used. This is done to make sure that all requirements or specifics are met in regards to the technical and product conditions as demanded by the client.

Medical Materials to Be Translated

Medical materials to be translated are several from medical manuals, brochures, documents, instructions, clinical information, medical device’s instructions in its certain classifications e.g. Anesthesiology, Hematology, Immunology, etc. Various medical documents include case reports, package labels, clinical examinations, etc.

Medical Translator’s Guidelines to Follow

Medical translators or also known as health care translators are people who are involved in translating medical texts concerned where technical and linguistics is combined. To simply put it, the medical translator is in charge in translating medical related materials e.g. pharmacological guidelines, hospitals informational brochures, physicians or doctors advises and diagnoses in the native language used by the people in a certain area. Only some of the medical translators are experts in translating medical devices and equipment’s instructions.

As all these medical translation works have proven to be difficult, medical translators are required to have a great skill in the matter. Aside from being required to be precise in linguistics, medical translators should undergo a medical training in order to have a clear understanding on the subject matter at hand.  This is for the reason that medical documents are controlled and regulated, highly technical, and are sensitive thus minor or slight changes can greatly affect the idea of the text and content. Medical translators also need to make the translation simpler in a way that complicated terminologies or contents can be understood by an ordinary person and know how to handle the cultural sensitivity in the area is as well important. In doing translation works on a physician-patient document, the medical translator should know how to keep its confidentiality.

Further requirements include medical translators to make sure that those people who still have limited skills in English be able to obtain the medical information translated in their native tongues.

Quality Standard Systems to Comply

In translating a medical document, one should ensure that everything is translated accurately and precisely as the people’s lives are on the line in it. The translation service provider should comply with the requirements of certification through a quality standard system– EN 15038 and ISO 9001. Both can are considered to measure quality standards however since the latter only focuses on having good quality management systems and does not give any particulars in the translation process, it is not widely acknowledged as a guaranteed standard system in the translation industry. The former (EN 15038) is recognized by the European Union as a quality standard for translation processes. For medical devices standards, follow the requirements of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO 13485) for quality management systems on the medical equipment or device’s production.

Importance of Medical Translation

The need for a professional medical translation is essential to the medical and healthcare industry, and now that the internet and medical tourism play an essential role in our lines, it cannot be ignored. With the translation of medical papers, there are many advantages to both healthcare specialists and the patients they handle. As a result of this, medical specialists will become better educated about their foreign cases if, for instance, they have the way to their translated medical records. The patient also helps as they are informed of the details regarding any medical procedure or treatment that needs to be taken.

A medical translator must have comprehensive knowledge of medicine, healthcare and also technology to manage the medical documents completely. Biochemistry, genetic engineering, and science comprehension are also needed in some common fields. So, to provide an entirely accurate medical translation, you must be a professional translator and a medical expert at the same time.