Medical devices, globalisation and localisation
Today, technological development makes it possible to offer a higher quality and more sophisticated healthcare service.
Modern medical devices are more accurate, practical and advanced then ever before, and are thus of paramount importance due to the number of acute and chronic diseases currently on the rise.
These diseases include, above all, cardiovascular, neurological and respiratory disorders, and, in general, diseases that require the use of specialised medical devices both for their diagnosis and their treatment.
Nevertheless, devices of this kind are manufactured only by a few specialised companies such as Johnson & Johnson, Siemens Healthiness and GE Healthcare.
These companies direct the market for medical devices and equipment internationally, exporting their products all over the world.
To do this, they need a careful, accurate translation of everything they put on the market, so that both the doctors who use the devices and the patients on whom they are used can fully understand how they function.
Translation for medical devices, a specialized method of linguistic adaptation, is also referred to as product localization.
Let’s see how it works.
User support, marketing and software: what has to be localised?
Medical devices can be used both in hospitals and in the home and, consequently, their language contents can be consulted both by a patient and by a specialised doctor.
In fact, in some cases, the text is suitable for a more scientific approach while, in others, it is simplified and aimed directly at patients with no knowledge in the field. All this makes localisation in the medical field a practically infinite task.
Just think that every device, above all if it is a more modern product, is supplied with its own instruction manual, the length of which may vary according to the instrument and its complexity of use.
In this sense, the manuals may sometimes be extremely detailed and written with purely medical terminology, explaining processes in extremely complex terms.
On the other hand, there are medical devices specially created for independent use by patients, the instructions of which are simplified, by avoiding technical terms and communicating the information as clearly as possible.
In addition to these two types of manuals, however, there are well localised medical devices with additional resources for the patient, aimed at facilitating the use of the product and answering all the questions of less experienced users.
There is usually an online guide in the form of FAQs, screens, instructions and texts that are in turn localised to make them even simpler to read.
Consider, for example, all the marketing material used to advertise a pulse oximeter, a product designed both for professional doctors and for patients.
Last but not least, the user interface is without doubt one of the main elements to be localised.
In fact, today, most medical devices use software with various functions providing many alternatives to set up the devices and make them accessible to all users.
The user interface of the software thus influences the interaction between the medical device and the user so it is one of the crucial elements to be localised.
A familiar example is the interface of a Smartwatch, which must be translated comprehensibly to ensure that the device is used correctly.
Key information for translating user interfaces for medical devices
Communication between the parties involved
When proceeding to translate a user interface, communication between the parties involved is of vital importance. Everyone, from the Project Manager to the translators, must be fully aware of the purpose of the medical device and how it works.
If, for example, you want to market a product in Italy or Spain, care must be taken to use the right interface. In fact, some countries may receive the information better if certain colours, images or themes that recall their culture are used.
Strings
Localisation of the user interface also entails translating the strings of this interface. Interface strings are simply sequences of characters representing a constant value or a variable value, limited however to the software.
Positioning the strings in a given context may often prove complicated as the sequences of characters could have to be isolated to ensure a correct translation.
In this sense, the best string must be selected according to the setting to which the user target belongs, paying great attention to the order in which the various codes appear.
Context and length
The translators must be fully aware of whether they are working on the translation of a title or a button, and exactly what the string indicates. It is also important to bear in mind that the strings have a limited length and this may represent a problem with translations into more complex languages.
These may require longer phrases than those of the source language. Think, for example, of the translation from English of “wearable” into Italian “dispositivo indossabile”, which requires not only a larger number of characters but also a larger number of words.
Afterwards, having completed the translation, it is important to check that it is functional to the context of the user interface. This process is normally performed and validated by linguists through screens that show the localised software.
Subsequently, the software of the medical device is debugged to make sure that it is ready for a specific public. The ultimate aim is obviously the patients’ safety, as any error in the translation or user interface could represent a threat to their health.
Compliance: a question of conformity
As mentioned early, medical devices are subjected to strict tests to guarantee maximum user safety. Nevertheless, manufacturers must respect the rules and steps laid down in each individual country.
In general, the various countries establish, on the one hand, the type of documentation to be delivered and, on the other, that all the documents are translated in the official language of the country concerned.
In fact, over 60 countries in the world already possess precise standards in force, such as the Medical Device Directive 93/42/EEC for products sold in Europe. An extremely common rule concerns the obligation to translate all contents into the country’s official language.
In this sense, it is evident that localisation is not only an advantage that enables a company to adapt to other countries, but also a necessary requirement for all existing communities!
