By Translations should always be reliable and accurate, but there is an extra layer of need for medical notes. Notes deal with a patient’s health, their medical history, and their current conditions, and a mistranslation that changes or omits even subtle details can carry lasting implications. Here is what you need to know about medical notes translation and how you can get a fast, professional, and accurate translation for even the most complex medical documents with SYSTRAN.
Why Is Medical Translation Important?
Medical translation is an essential part of healthcare for both patients and healthcare providers.
How It Benefits Patients
For patients, medical translation is important, so that they can communicate with their healthcare providers. Communication is the foundation of patient care. Imagine being unable to understand or respond if your doctor asks about your pain level or medication side effects.
If a patient isn’t able to accurately communicate how they are feeling, providing effective diagnoses and treatments becomes significantly more complicated.
Medical translation is also crucial for communicating aftercare instructions. Every medical procedure—from minor operations like getting a wart removed to complex surgeries—comes with instructions to the patient about what they should do during their recovery. This can be as simple as getting rest and staying hydrated, or it can be as complex as:
- Detailed instructions for changing bandages
- Directions for cleaning wounds, so they heal properly
- Dietary restrictions, which may change as recovery progresses
- Warning signs that indicate a potential problem
If a patient does not understand those instructions, they risk infection, disease, and future complications.
How It Benefits Providers
Medical translation is also essential for medical professionals to collaborate. Collaboration is a cornerstone of healthcare, and it’s common practice for healthcare providers to reach out to their colleagues when they need help, regardless of what language they speak.
All of these communications, of course, must fall under the HIPAA or Health Information Portability and Accountability Act, so it is critical that you only use a HIPAA compliant machine translation application, as opposed to a typical "translation portal". Almost all translation portals are not secure, and your data is typically used by the site owner for data intelligence and/or advertisement. Be careful of using these with sensitive data: it can result in penalties and fines!
Medical translation helps doctors worldwide work together to make sure each patient gets the right diagnosis and treatment.
Finally, translation of medical notes and reports is essential when gathering patient records. A patient’s medical history is an important tool for providing accurate treatment and diagnoses. It can help save a patient’s life by making sure there are no allergies, conflicting prescriptions, or pre-existing conditions that could be easily overlooked.
How Do You Translate a Medical Report?
There are three ways to translate medical reports: manually, digitally, or hybrid.
Manual Translation
Manual translation requires a trained and qualified translator to translate medical records. This process is time-intensive and can be very costly because it requires very specific training to perform correctly.
Digital Translation
Digital or machine translation is done entirely by computer software. Translation solutions like SYSTRAN’s on-premise server can provide fast, accurate, and professional translations of medical documents and patient communication and education materials. Rather than waiting for days or weeks to get a manual translation, it takes only seconds while remaining compliant with all patient privacy regulations.
Machine translation solutions are faster and cheaper than manual translation, but the process can be limited by its code and language database. There is always the risk that the system will encounter a technical phrase or misspelling that the program is not prepared for and cannot accurately translate.
SYSTRAN provides multiple languages and technical models specifically designed for technical industries with unique vocabularies, like healthcare. You can also use SYSTRAN’s Model Studio, which uses machine learning to further customize industry models to meet your needs.
Hybrid Translation
Hybrid translation merges manual and digital translation and is the most accurate translation solution. A human translator works with a machine translation solution like SYSTRAN’s on-premise server. SYSTRAN’s machine translation provides a fast and accurate initial translation. The translator can quickly verify and make any final revisions necessary to ensure the quality of the translation. Hybrid translation is the best way to translate a medical report. It provides faster translations than manual translation while providing more accurate translations than relying on machines alone.
Choose SYSTRAN
SYSTRAN is the best option for translating medical notes. The server is customizable to your needs, with medical models available that are designed to translate complex medical terminology. Once the server is installed, it is protected by your existing data security processes, and no information is ever transmitted or shared. Contact us today to learn more about SYSTRAN translation services and how they can help with medical note translation.
