10 Jan Health Chatbox and Medical interpreters

It is a fact that interpreters are some of the first people called on to perform written translation and/or sight translation whether or not they have the skills to do this.

Healthcare has seen smart algorithm-powered, text or voice-based interfaces multiply in the last years. That is why we can be certain that the age of talking algorithms is here. Chatbots, computer programs or smart algorithms conducting conversation via textual or auditory methods, are even reaching the territory of humans, showing empathy and feelings.

Chat boxes in healthcare. From Eva to Babylon Health

Sight translation is sophisticated skill for interpreters who are not practicing translators. It is a useful way to verbally communicate the contents of a document just by reading from a source document and translating the information in the target language.

Chat boxes can not only be used to better organice patient pathways, help in emergency situations, in medication management, or with first aid, offering a solution for simple medical issues. Here are some examples of current chat boxes available for healthcare:

Bots4Health started by The Neon Project operating in Cordóba, Spain, a business transformation lab specializing in conversational UX solutions, released Eva in 2016. From a woman’s health chatbot, after an update, it has widened both the target audienceand range of health issues she can talk about. In the same sense, Izzy, was born as a handy companion for information about menstrual health and sexual issues.

To carry out sight translation, interpreters should be appropriately trained and required to acquire basic sight translation and written translation skills for non-publishable text. On the other hand, Safedrugbot is a chat messaging service that offers assistant-like support to health professionals, who need appropriate data about the use of drugs during breastfeeding.

Babylon Health offers A.I. consultation based on personal medical history which users report to the app and common medical knowledge. The chatbox checks against a database of diseases using speech recognition to offer an appropriate course of action. It also offers live video consultation with a real doctor whenever a patient needs it. Founded in 2013, It was tested in 2017 in the UK’s National Health Service (NHS).

The role of a professional translator. From a chatbox nurse to the fastest growing medical app

However, in no case should a translation meant for publication be translated by somebody other than a professional translator. As to do so means risking the release of erroneous information, with all its implications, including legal ones. As a blue personal nurse, Florence, another heath chatbox, works on Facebook Messenger, Skype or Kik and can remind patients to take their pills as well as track the user’s health.

Just like the medical profession, translation is a profession that must be taken seriously, and which requires formal education in certain areas as well as specific skills, therefore it is not convenient that bilingual medical practitioners translate documents. Your MD a free platform offers actionable health information based on highly accurate sources and lets the user make the best choices for his health. In 2017, it was awarded the prestigious Unesco/Netexplo Award for “innovations that can improve society.”

Basically, a symptom checker powered by artificial intelligence, it is available on Telegram, iOS, KIK, Facebook Messenger, Android, and Slack. Errors in translated documents can become a liability for any health establishment or organization in which they were translated, besides the lack of accuracy and clarity in communication that they represent. With a vast A.I.-based symptoms database, Ada Health has been the fastest growing medical app in Europe during 2017 in 2017 with over 1.5 million users.

Training algorithms, editing, and proofreading. From Molly to the polyglot Gyant chatbox

Sensely has a virtual medical assistant named Molly that can assess the patient’s symptoms using speech, text, images, and video. As the user wishes. Sensely interprets the user’s symptoms and recommends a diagnosis, based on gathered data and its smart algorithm, decides about the urgency of a case and accesses rich resources for self-care. While, Buoy Health, reportedly developed by a team of doctors and computer scientists through the Harvard Innovation Laboratory, has trained its algorithm on clinical data from 18,000 medical papers. The chatbot asks you about the users’ health details and offers various solutions and actionable steps to take.

Editing and proofreading are two necessary steps in the translation process. No person without the necessary qualifications should perform them. Furthermore, the qualifications and credentials of a person editing a translation should greatly surpass those of the original translator. Significantly more experience and a higher educational level than the translator are recommended. Infermedica is a platform that runs online and on mobile phones as a chatbot or voice-based application. Assessing the patient’s health status and based on his/her symptoms, Infermedica sets up a diagnosis and gives recommendations.

The Platform leverages machine learning technology to power the symptom-checker chatbot, Symptomate. In 2017 it gave 3 million diagnostics. The same Polish company developed Healthloop. Final proofreading should be conducted by someone with an expert level of translation standards and formatting rules in the target language.

Translation agencies accept the industry standards, therefore they should be able to disclose their personnel selection process. However, references, samples and other proof of expertise in medical translation are also strongly advised. Cancer Chatbot is a helpful resource for cancer patients, caregivers, friends and family available on Facebook Messenger.

Gyant is a health chatbot that sends the patient’s data to the doctors, who in real time provide diagnoses and prescribe medicine if needed. Available on Facebook Messenger and Alexa, the chatbox speaks in English, Spanish, Portuguese and German.

To evaluate and select the appropriate talent for each task is essential if an institution is working with individual translators. It is imperative in this case to understand the whole process of translation, including editing and proofreading too.