In what ways can hospitals minimize this problem
A medical interpreter is as important as a life-saving drug!
Health care providers need a bilingual staff to improve communication between doctors and patients.
Quality of translation is directly linked with the quality of care, which means medical translation accuracy is the key factor in the treatment process.
The instruction manual must be written in multiple languages for the staff to be able to apprehend properly, e.g. a patient needs no further treatment so the discharge instructions will help cater to the situation.
One correct term translated may result in eliminating life-threatening conditions. Take an example of Intentional drug overdose and the patient requires a qualified interpreter, it requires urgent translation and timely treatment.
The patient’s life is dependent on each second used to communicate the problem to the health care professional.
Medical Care must not be treated lightly as it also requires language services which most hospitals neglect.
Now let us look at a few examples of the importance of these translations which lead to common medical translation mistakes:
Consent forms:
Imagine your loved one urgently needs surgery which may result in fatality and the hospital requires you to sign a consent form to start the procedure and you are unable to read the language written on it. Scary! I know.
Medical Terms:
Many words are very hard to interpret correctly and one slight mistake of even an alphabet can switch up the entire meaning of the problem at hand. Medical terms are very difficult to understand and further communicate. Hence without a professional interpreter, there could be serious problems.
Medical Conditions:
I’m sure you all agree that our parents can more comfortably explain their condition in their native language. And without a proper translator, their medical issue might be left untreated.
The direction of a hospital:
Say you are on a trip to Spain, you witness a car accident and put the victim in your car, and call the nearest hospital you find on the internet. You need a translator to explain the Spanish term in a language understandable to you.
Emergency Room doctors:
They need to be bilingual or most definitely keep language experts to maintain standards of care for the patients.
Healthcare Costs:
Imagine agreeing to get a treatment done not realizing what it would cost, and at the end is left to take loans. Yikes!
After having read these examples you must be able to understand how important medical translation services are. Every hospital must have medical translators to bridge the communication gap between healthcare providers and a foreign patient.
Another vital issue is the target languages. Many hospitals have their official language as English but not everyone is fluent enough to communicate their condition properly.
For that very matter, target languages are important and may vary from location to location. So, every location must take into account the foreign languages they must incorporate to keep preventing any life-threatening situations.
Medical interpreters are like oxygen tanks at times!
We know you must be thinking about how crucial a medical interpreter can become in anyone’s life.
Well, I hope none of you have to go through a medical emergency where such a problem of language barrier occurs, and even if it does, we hope a medical interpreter comes saving your day like superman!