What Are Medical Reports and Why Do They Need to be Translated?

Last Updated On: December 26, 2022 by The Migration Translators

What are medical reports?

Medical reports are hugely important, so if there is a need to provide them in a country other than the one where they were issued and where the official language is different, then medical report translation will be needed.

Medical reports are made up of individual medical records as well as more general data and statistics that could be anything from an analysis of regional and national health outcomes to research and development of new treatment options, vaccines, and drugs.

Why you might need individual medical record translation

When it comes to individuals, medical reports tend to be called medical records. Ideally, they should be continuous, and therefore give a history of the health of the individual. If there have been any illnesses that had to be treated or injuries that had to be dealt with, these should be included in the individual’s medical records. These may include assessments by doctors, records of hospital admissions, the results of any tests and scans, diagnoses of any serious illnesses, medication prescribed, ongoing prognosis, and potential long-term medical needs.

Generally, these medical records are compiled in the language of the country where the individual has lived for most of the time, but people do move around from one country to another, for education, permanent migration, employment, and as refugees. When the individual does move to another country, medical records can be very useful in the event that treatment is required. In many cases, visas for lengthier periods of stay or permanent migration may depend on submitting medical records. Typically, this is a medical examination that may need specific tests such as for T.B., syphilis, etc.

In more recent times, vaccination records against Covid-19 have been of importance for individuals when visiting another country. Again, medical document translation in the form of vaccination data may be necessary. Covid-19 vaccination status is currently going through a dynamic situation, but there are other vaccinations that may be mandatory such as Yellow Fever vaccinations if visiting Africa or South America.

Why you might need medical reports and documents translation

Most people are aware of just how important international cooperation between national health departments, medical researchers, individual doctors, and medical specialists is. An enormous amount of medical information is created every month by a variety of individuals, government departments, private health entities, corporations that specialize in providing drugs and pharmaceutical products, and medical instruments and appliance manufacturers. Although intellectual property rights and corporate needs to copyright and patent their products tend to minimize the sharing of ideas, in general, much of the data and information released by all those sources listed above does in fact get circulated around the world. When it comes to many new medical innovations and techniques for treatment, the best practice is to share discoveries and ensure that tests and experiments used in one country are repeated and assessed elsewhere. Medical reports tend to be predominantly scientific and technical in nature. Science proceeds cautiously, relying on testing and then more testing until hypotheses and predictions become accepted when results are consistent. International cooperation is a must in all fields of medicine and public health. This of course means that sharing of information in the form of medical reports and documents of all kinds relies on medical report translators to accurately convert information from one language to another.

Conclusion

Medical report translation and medical document translation is an often overlooked yet hugely important activities. This field of translation demands very accurate translations, not just in terms of language fluency but translators must have a good foundation in medical terminology if their translation work is to be of any use. It is vital that a professional medical report translation agency is used to do any medical translation tasks.