Healthcare translation has become evident to ensure that people get good medical treatment and care across the globe. A good healthcare routine is everyone’s basic right. However, there are countries where people do not get access to basic healthcare facilities, things get worse and they have to travel to countries where the medical treatment is better and more effective. This highlights the need for accurate medical translation. When a patient and healthcare provider speaks different languages, translation becomes necessary for effective communication. Translating medical text comes with a huge responsibility. And the complex terminologies are usually not well understood by ordinary translators.
Simply put, medical documents contain sensitive text that asks for extreme care and vigilance for flawless translation. Thus, only subject matter experts can pull it off professionally ensuring there are no mistakes. However, many companies also fall for inexperienced translators and below-average translation to save some bucks. They should realize how such an approach can have long-lasting problems and effects.
They need to be aware of the problems they can face due to poor translation, such as:
Incorrect diagnosis
The medical process starts with the proper diagnosis of the patient based on his symptoms and condition. A poor translation can make both physician and patient stuck on certain things leading to miscommunication and an ambiguous situation that ends up with an incorrect diagnosis. And misdiagnosis can lead to some irreparable damage as well. On the contrary, opting for clear, precise, and quality healthcare translation services ensures that the patients convey their condition and symptoms clearly and there is no mistranslation. It helps the healthcare provider understand the patient’s condition, leading to a proper diagnosis and better treatment.
Health crisis
A wrong diagnosis leads to a health crisis that the patient might have to be in for the rest of his life. It may include unnecessary surgery, improper care, or medicine that may cause allergies or other reactions. It accelerates the anxiety and uncertainty among patients hanging in situations where they are not confident about their well-being. Such are the after-effects of the wrong and poor medical translation. This can also distress the whole family putting their trust in the medical center at stake. Hence, inaccuracies in the medical text go a long way and can have irreversible effects. Therefore, it is advised to always choose professional healthcare translation services.
Adverse reactions
Inaccurate medical translation also puts the safety of the patient at risk of severe adverse reactions. Different people have different allergies. And unknowingly consuming medicines may trigger their allergy or other underlying conditions putting their lives at risk. Likewise, incorrect translations of the medicine labels, warnings, and precautions can make people suffer side effects. Medical content is sensitive and professional translators also understand the complexities and sensitives involved. However, an inexperienced and immature translator can put patients’ lives at stake with wrong and inaccurate translations.
Malfunctioning of medical devices
Medical device translation services are also an integral part of the medical translation. All the medical devices which are manufactured in one particular region are usually distributed in different countries. These are sent with the user manual and the relevant information translated into the relevant language which is important for the user to go through before using the device. A medical device is not normal equipment and hence requires proper guidance to use and operate or else the unfortunate incidents may lead to injury or disability for life. This may include heavy equipment as well installed in healthcare centers and the x-ray and ultrasound machines and any misuse of the machine can also be fatal for the patients and the staff.
Non-compliance with regulatory authorities
Medical devices have to stick to the safety standards defined in the particular region. The relevant authorities expect to get through the compliance regulations before launching the operations smoothly. The inaccurate translation hence can hinder the whole process of compliance and regulations. This often leads to product recalls, can cause legal troubles, and also be the reason for reputational damage.
Increased healthcare cost
Mistranslations can be life-threatening in some cases, where critical medical information is involved. It particularly gets worse when a patient is already suffering from a serious disease and the poor translation delays the diagnosis or leads to improper diagnosis. This also adds on additional medical procedures eventually increasing the costs for patients and the overall healthcare system. All these problems go a long way, many times the companies also have to suffer with the patients. They get to deal with legal troubles and court battles also tarnishing their business image. Therefore, quality should not be compromised in medical translation.
Conclusion
Quality healthcare translation can have many benefits and likewise, poor and below-average translation can make things worse for everyone involved. Only professional and experienced translators must take care of the medical translation or else any inaccuracy or ambiguity can make the patient suffer making his life a living hell. The problems that patients may face include incorrect diagnosis, health crises, loss of credibility, malfunctioning of medical devices, and increased healthcare costs.