The Translation of Medical Case Reports, Don't Step on These Mistakes!

In the context of globalization, the translation of medical case reports is particularly important, which can promote the exchange of medical knowledge between the international community. A medical case report translation is a translation of the medical case report that a patient needs to produce when traveling to a foreign country for medical treatment, which makes it easier for the doctor to understand the history of past medical visits.

However, medical case report translation is not an easy task. It involves the accurate expression of medical terminology, which is a professional and rigorous work. Translators can also fall into some common misunderstandings of medical case report translation unconsciously.

Let’s take a look at the mistakes of medical case report translation.

1. Unstandardized translation of medical terminology

The medical field contains many specialized terms and abbreviations. If the translator does not understand these terms, the translation may be inappropriate or even incorrect. For example, in the translation of “既往史”, some translators will translate it as “previous history”, which is not wrong from the grammatical point of view. However, in medical records, “既往史” is equivalent to a proper noun, with the fixed expression “past history”.

2. The translation is hard and obscure.

Translation of medical case reports should not only accurately convey the information of the original text, but also ensure the fluency and readability of the translated text. When translating medical case reports, translators should clarify the sentence structure and use concise and clear language. At the same time, the reader’s receptivity should also be taken into account, so as not to make the translation difficult to understand.

3. Inaccurate formatting

In the translation of medical case reports, attention must be paid to the format of the document. In most cases, the format of the translated text should be consistent with the format of the original text. If the format of the translation is different from the original format, it is likely to affect the doctor's understanding. Of course, if there are special circumstances, then according to the actual adjustment.

4. Poor sense of confidentiality

The medical case report contains the patients’ personal privacy information, such as name, age, address and so on. In the process of translation, the translator should strictly abide by the principle of privacy protection and not disclose the patients’ private information. For the content involving patients’ privacy, it should be appropriately processed or replaced in order to protect the legitimate rights and interests of patients.

In conclusion, translation of medical case reports is a complex and important task. Translators need to have solid medical knowledge as well as good language skills and be rigorous and meticulous in the translation process in order to avoid these mistakes.