Specialist translation - Medical translation

Medical translation

The medical field is a discipline undergoing continuous change, both in terms of innovations in treatment and new developments in the information technology and e-documentation. The wide range of possibilities for subspecialties and the lucrative nature of the industry’s enduring growth, despite a rather lackluster economy, make specializing in medical and life sciences translation an intriguing option. However, translators entering this field will need to embrace technology in order to service.

Medical translators are already required to be well versed in medical terminology and to keep up with advances in research, technology, procedures, and standard of care, so the ever-changing context of the field presents additional challenges. Translators must remain vigilant to ensure that they acquire and maintain the necessary skill set to stay ahead of the technological curve.

Translation is still translation, but expectations have changed in terms of productivity, timeliness, and integration. Medical translators spend much of their time translating source documentation and case report forms (CRFs) so that international data from multicenter studies can be collected and harmonized.

Most medical translators are all too familiar with CRFs, the standardized form used by clinical sites to transcribe relevant data from patient medical charts (the “source documentation”) and compile it with data from other sites around the world to create a statistical pool for study data analysis. As clinical trials expand globally, a properly internationalized and localized eCRF application is essential to provide faster, less expensive, and more consistent translations. The key features of the eCRF are that it provides:

• Faster data collection;
• Cleaner data;
• Easy monitoring; and
• The immediate evaluation of results.