• Blog
• POSTED ON May 27, 2022

Why Accuracy Is Paramount In Translations For Healthcare

For many people, seeking medical attention is already a stressful experience. The challenge is further compounded by linguistic confusion, as patients often struggle to navigate the medical jargon used by physicians and other healthcare professionals. This is where translation services in Singapore can play a vital role, bridging language barriers to ensure clear communication and better healthcare outcomes.

Suppose you already think it is challenging to understand your doctor’s handwriting. In that case, it is not difficult to imagine how much harder it would be for foreign language speakers to access care across language barriers.

Communication between healthcare providers and their patients is positively correlated with improved health results, including preventive testing, medication regimen, and patient satisfaction. 

Hence, language is considered the most common barrier across various healthcare settings and a risk factor that may lead to adverse outcomes. Therefore, knowledgeable and accurate translation services in Singapore are critical in the healthcare sector, and below are five reasons that support the need for finding good qualities in a service provider.

1. Any error is unacceptable

Medical translations warrant technical precision. It is unacceptable to add, exclude, or substitute anything. Incorrect words may result in complications as doctors, and other healthcare professionals may find it hard to tell if the instructions of their new instruments are correct or not.

Moreover, omitting information is just as problematic. For instance, suitable medication may turn life-threatening if crucial data is left out of translated dosage instructions. A word omitted from a patient’s file could also change the entire diagnosis.

2. Bad translations may result in dire consequences

Accidental loss of life is highly plausible when hospitals neglect to offer their patients professional language services. Relying on family members as interpreters could lead to fatal consequences.

The same applies when bilingual doctors are burdened with translation responsibility. Remember that medical language is complex, with specific terminologies that may vary across different languages.

3. Improper translations may lead to authorisation disapproval

No matter how beneficial or excellent a medicine may be, it can still be denied authorisation if the translators fail to do their job. Take, for instance, a slight mistake in converting measurements for a pain killer solution.

This small error could turn it from an efficient product into something that could render a clinical trial irrelevant or flagged inappropriate for human use.

Experts know that when it comes to medical translations, they require no less than 100% accuracy for every target language to be translated into. They consider all aspects when undertaking such projects in the industry’s layout, style, and content standards.

In this way, all the relevant and necessary information makes it into the new label. Erroneous or incomplete documentation will be met with authorisation disapproval that incurs unnecessary costs and negatively affects the company’s market share.

4. People in the pharmaceutical industry will face legal risk for incorrect medical translations

Professionals in translating medical documents have a significant influence over the industry. Their job is to ensure that all imported medicines are shipped with accurate information. 

Every label on the boxes, bottles and other packaging must contain a wide range of critical details, including dosage forms, indications, and usage, storage instructions, side effects or adverse reactions, warnings and precautions, drug interactions, expiry date, etc.

5. Perfect scientific translations are essential for research

The information that must travel between medical research facilities or universities is not limited to just plain numbers. Researchers need sufficient context. Unprepared or inexperienced translators often miss out on the complex details or subtle ideas that provide such context. Thus, bad translations will more than likely lead to failure in such research endeavors, causing specialists to lose funding or make numerous hours of work obsolete. 

Conclusion

In an industry where medical errors cause, at minimum, thousands of losses per year, it becomes all too easy to imagine how inadequate translation services can further exacerbate the problem. Therefore, if you have any medical-related content that needs to be translated, look no further than Eureka Translations.

As a leading and certified translation translation agency in Singapore, Eureka Translations provide precise and accurate translations that cover everything down to the smallest detail. In fact, we can even translate more than words, such as translating your ideas into reality. Drop us a line today or visit us at Raffles Place for more information about our services.