Balancing Accuracy and Cost in Medical Translations
Maintaining compliance and accuracy in clinical trial translations is a cornerstone to ensuring data collected in research is accurate and effective treatments are developed. However, it is becoming increasingly difficult to ensure that these standards are continued in the pursuit of medical advancement.
The volume of clinical trials has increased significantly since the start of the century, driven by advancements in medical research and growing global health challenges. Only 2,000 registered clinical trials took place in the year 2000, but over two decades later, over 500,000 clinical trials are registered globally. Ensuring compliance and accuracy in translations is still very much required in these trials, but the sheer number of trials and the growing demand may have a negative impact on offering translation services that meet regulatory standards.
As such, leveraging advanced translation technologies and expert partnerships as part of a limited budget has become key to managing costs while also maintaining accuracy and compliance during clinical trials. This article will discuss how different methods can be utilized to continue these standards and achieve clear communication, despite the rising complexity of clinical trial translation due to costs.
Technology Adoption
Translation technologies are a potential method of managing the balance between the rising number of clinical trials and their costs, as well as the accuracy that must be achieved when offering translation services for medical purposes.
However, while these advanced translation technologies can be expensive and may consume a large portion of your budget, the impact they can have on improving compliance standards and accuracy is essential for the important research done in clinical trials. They are often cost-effective in the long term, which is reflected in the reduced errors and increased efficiency that these translation technologies can offer.
Strategic Partnerships
Another way for clinical trial translations to be cost-effective is through the utilization of language service providers, who already have expertise in clinical trials and knowledge of regulatory requirements.
These language service providers will already understand the importance of clinical trial translations, and will also be able to offer effective translations of medical-specific language that meet the compliance and accuracy standards of important institutions, such as the FDA. This also ensures that critical documents, such as consent forms, are not only translated accurately but are also able to adapt to the relevant cultural context of the participants to explain the clinical trial procedure thoroughly.
Outsourcing clinical trial translations for cost-effectiveness can also give you access to specialized expertise for a certain type of clinical trial that not all translation services could provide. Furthermore, a continued partnership with a language service provider will streamline your processes and increase efficiency, which overall leads to language service provider utilization having a greater cost-effective impact on your clinical trial budget in the long term.
Data Centralization
In any industry, costs increase when errors are made and communication is ineffective. It is, therefore, more efficient, and also more cost-effective, to have all required data centralized. Having all data in one place streamlines the process of clinical trial translations as all the essential data is together and forms the cornerstone of the translator’s operations, as well as standardizes the translation process across the board.
Patient-Centric Approach
By streamlining translation services during clinical trials through the utilization of translation technologies and language service providers, the translation can have a much more patient or participant-centric approach, which can assist with the impact of cost-effectiveness efforts.
Ensuring that your clinical trial translations have a patient-centric approach, including engaging in streamlined communication with them, will contribute to improved patient retention. This assists with the cost-effectiveness of clinical trial translations, as the impact of this approach reduces clinical trial dropout rates.
Participants dropping out of trials means the data collected from them can no longer be used, and further costs can be incurred attempting to recruit new participants to the trial. It is therefore more cost-effective, and also ensures your research has greater reliability and validity, to focus on having a more patient-centric approach to your clinical trial translations.
Balancing Cost-effectiveness with Accuracy and Compliance with DTS Language Services
The ultimate goal of any clinical trial translation is to maintain accuracy, while also balancing the cost-effectiveness of the services being utilized and staying within budget. Ensuring ethical compliance and participant safety is essential, and with over 50 years of experience, DTS Language Services is able to provide ISO-certified and IRB-complaint translation services that adhere to the ethical standards required for clinical research.
We deliver certified translations, paired with project management and leading translation portal technology, to ensure the clinical trial translation services we provide entirely encompass the complexity of clinical trials. Our translators are dedicated to their craft, which is reflected in our affiliations with the American Translators Association and the Association of Language Companies. Our clinical trial translation services deliver accuracy, maintain quality, offer a positive impact on your research, while also confidently meeting compliance requirements.
To find out how DTS Language Services can assist you in translating during your next clinical trial, contact us today or request a quote.
