For years, translations of patient reported outcomes (PROs) have had inconsistencies. The way the translations are managed and the way they are published vary from practice to practicThis can cause tremendous difficulty in the pharmaceutical and medical field. Without proper information, how will patients understand what they need to live a healthy life?
Here are some of the pitfalls faced by the industry.
Inconsistent terminology
There are various ways to describe the same work. For example, if you plan to test a new translation on a small group of people to ensure accuracy and comprehension it can have two different names – “pilot testing” or “cognitive debriefing.”
It’s inconsistent verbiage like those two terms that confuses people in the pharmaceutical and medical industry. Although both cognitive debriefing and pilot testing can use a small group of people, pilot testing can also refer to testing on a larger group of people. This can have a profound impact on the meaning of a text depending on the context. In translations of PROs, this can change the meaning from language to language.
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