No one in this world can claim to not have fears. Whether a thing is small or big, it doesn’t matter. If it scares someone then it is a problem for them. Some fear heights, some can’t look at water for long, while others are simply afraid of dying before getting to live their dreams. But we realized pretty early on that nothing good can be achieved if we don’t conquer our fears. A lot of scientific and medical discovery became possible because humans were able to try. They faced their fears head on and came out victorious on the other end. But it would be stupid to think that we will always succeed at things. We try and we fail so that we can learn from our mistakes and try again in a better way.

There are so many steps we have to take before we can taste the success. The medical world is full of instances where time was short and the cure was nowhere near being finished. But with the efforts of daring scientists and healthcare professionals, a solution was found at last. All the attempts to uncover something beneficial for humans cannot take place inside the lab, some of them have to be conducted out in the open. An example of such experiments is a clinical trial.

What are Clinical Trials?

In clinical research, these trials are conducted to test new drugs, devices, or medical procedures. They can range from one area to multiple countries. Their results are useful in determining whether or not a new medical invention is safe and efficient. Although clinical trials have only been able to give us ten percent of approved drugs out of all of the drugs they tested, they are still considered a useful method of figuring out the efficacy of a treatment method.

A country where the trials are supposed to be conducted have to give permission for it. The permission is often given by health or ethics committee once they have analyzed the risk and benefit ratio. It is important to notice that a trial may not be safe and still get approval because the committee doesn’t focus on the safety feature of the tests.

Translation of Clinical Trials:

There are various reasons why the translation of clinical trials might be required. They have to be presented to the research community to show them the results. Maybe they need to be presented to the relevant drug authority for the approval of a new medicine based on the results. Either way, the interpretation of the results is very important. It can pave the way for further development and production of useful medicines. But the translation of the trials is not as easy as it sounds.

Top Ten Difficulties Besides Deadlines when Translating Clinical Trials:

Deadlines are very important when it comes to interpreting clinical trials. The interpretation in time can save the life of people and give the world a cure before it is too late. But deadlines are not the only problem one might face with these translations. Here are the rest of them:

1. Few Translators:

If you need the translation in a particular language, you might not find enough translators of the language with the relevant field. This can prove to be an even bigger problem when the deadline is approaching and you are working with only a couple of interpreters.

2. Terminologies:

Not every language will have the right type of terminologies for the things mentioned in the clinical trials. When the appropriate words are nowhere to be found and the translator picks an alternative, the meaning of the tests can get lost. This will harm the validity of the trials.

3. Client Preference:

Every culture has a different way of using words in every day conversations. Some clients prefer to include the simplest meaning of a word, while some prefer to keep the real word in the translated files too. It can be quite difficult for translators to keep up with their clients’ preferences.

4. Expertise:

It is not always easy to find a translator or agency that has clinical trials expertise. Without their expertise, they won’t be able to translate the documents accurately. They don’t have to have years and years of experience in the field but a basic understanding of how things work in clinical research is essential.

5. Lack of Medical Literature:

Some languages do not have enough medical literature to help with the translation of clinical trials and that can be a huge problem for the translators.

6. Accuracy:

Since deadlines are so important, people might end up hiring someone for the translation who doesn’t know how to do accurate interpretation.

7. Errors:

Shortage of time means you won’t review the translation yourself. But if errors end up in the final document, they can mess up the whole study.

8. Patient Centered:

The translations have to be in the language of the patient to make them more easily understandable. But many experts don’t understand this issue and get them interpreted in the researcher’s language.

9. Cultural Aspects:

If the patients’ cultural aspects are ignored, they might feel uncomfortable with their participation and could refuse to continue their cooperation.

10. Too Complex:

If the translations are too complex, the patients will fail to understand them and follow through accurately.

If you think deadlines are the only problem with clinical trials translation, think again and make sure you counter these difficulties for good results.