Translation Essentials : Medical Translation Services

Medical terminology has a long and rich history that evolved in great measure from the Latin and Greek languages. “It is estimated that about three-fourths of our medical terminology is of Greek origin.”(Banay) “Latin accounts for the majority of root words in the English language.” (Fallon).

According to the 2011 U.S. Census, twenty-one percent of the population speaks other language at home besides English. Hence, one of the biggest challenges in Healthcare is the language barrier between the providers, Health care administrators and patients that speak foreign languages. This poses a challenge for medical entities,

In the state of Massachusetts the state law states that the emergency department patients with limited English proficiency have the right to a medical interpreter (Ginde, Clark, & Camargo, 2009). Having a medical interpreter for patients that have limited English proficiency will increase the quality of health care they receive; it also increases patient compliance and increases patient satisfaction. The use of professional interpreters is shown to decrease revisiting the emergency department, and increase this population’s use of outpatient clinics for follow up care (Ginde et al., 2009).

Non-English speaking citizens and immigrants are receiving improper medical care because of the miscommunication. The people who cannot speak English well are misunderstood, when they go to free clinics or hospital emergency rooms and attempt to explain their symptoms and illness or cannot understand the doctors or medical profession that are trying to help them. ” Interpreters are omitting questions about drug allergies. Patients are not telling nurses the correct symptoms. A mother misunderstood by putting oral antibiotic into the ears of the child instead of the mouth. The Puerto Rican word for mumps is not the same in Central America, so a child was mistreated. A doctor mistakenly told a parent to put a steroid crème on entire child instead of just the face” (Yolanda Prtida, 2005). Language barriers in the medical field are dangerous and some times even fatal. There is definitely a need for more translators in hospitals and doctors office. Clear communication is essential for safe quality healthcare. Poor communication can lead to disastrous outcomes, especially for patients with limited or no English ability.

For example; If a patient does not speak the language of which country they are in, interpreters or translators may be needed in order to help communicate with people from the local area. These are important to keep the person informed about what is happening and what is going to happen. Supporting individuals to express their needs and

Translation and interpreting services - A translator is a person who translates from one language into another. They facilitate written communication which is helpful if a parent wants to show something that is written in their language. An interpreter a person who interprets, especially one who translates speech orally or into sign language.

• If a person using the service does not speak English, translation services should be provided in the short term and culturally appropriate services provided in the long term.

Language is one social and cultural barriers that may have made it difficult for the doctors to communicate with Jessica’s family. It creates the trust that exists between a patient and a doctor and their guardians. When using a translator, meanings may change and the desired communication result may not be achieved. The trust that should exist between the doctor and the patient and the guardians

True or false: If treating a patient who does not speak English, it is preferable to use a family member to interpret, rather than a translator, as they have a better understanding of the patient’s home life and the progression/onset of their injury.

Decoding is essential but the father of medicine also wrote the Hippocratic Oath. In this Oath physicians are meant to promise to practice medicine the right way. To make sure their pronunciation and spelling was always accurate and correct. The Oath has been in use for over two thousand years and physicians and doctors are to follow the Oath to the best

Effective communication with patients is critical to the safety and quality care. From the last two decades ,number of researches has been conducted on the impact of language barrier on health and healthcare. It is observed that language barriers are the main cause of medical errors, complication and adverse event. But due to data limitations ,limited researches on impacts of language barrier has been conducted in Canadian setting. However, the researches conducted on other countries on the impact of language barrier on quality of care is applicable in the Canadian context. Some researches shows that there are several barrier which affect quality of care and patient safety. Now, researches has begun to know the complexity of language, culture, race, health literacy that may affect patient care. Current approaches are moved towards the knowledge of risk of language barrier rather than implementation of effective, evidence informed strategies.

Effective communication is important in providing safe health care. Miscommunication can lead to many errors, which can inadvertently affect compliance, accurate diagnosis, and health promotion. There are a variety of translation services offered in the United States; however,

This reflection essay will discuss the written report of the group presentation on chapter entitled The Interpreter as Institutional Gatekeeper: The Social-Linguistic Role of Interpreters in Spanish-English Medical Discourse written by Brad Davidson. This will include how to build group discussion, the material presented, class discussion, and the conclusion. The data are taken from the work of Baker (2010).

There are two critical elements you must know when translation a document and they cannot be stated too many times:

“Translators have to prove to themselves as to others that they are in control of what they do, that they do not just translate well because they have a “flair” for translation, but rather because, like other professional, they have made a conscious effort to understand various aspects of their work.”