Leveraging the advantages of hospital management systems in the right voice

How implementing CPSL’s specialised localisation solutions has helped a health IT solution supplier provide first-class hospital management systems all over the world

Implementing healthcare technology solutions and hospital management systems is no longer regarded as something futuristic: hospitals and clinics alike have widely leveraged their advantages to improve patient experience by streamlining communication between hospitals, patients, pharmacies and other healthcare suppliers. They have also digitalised patient records, and other formerly manual processes, such as scheduling appointments, allocating prescriptions, and ordering and delivering medications. By reducing errors, saving precious time, safely storing patient data, and streamlining healthcare operations, clinic management systems have helped hospitals to improve their logistics and general management. All of which means that the sector is experiencing huge global growth – expected to reach the value of USD 5.2 billion between now and 2023.

For healthcare technology solutions to be reliable they have to go through an extremely rigorous development process; a process that takes regulatory factors into consideration and delivers software of the highest quality. Once development work is completed, solutions have to be ready to be used globally. Preparing them for international rollout is not just a matter of language, or simple translation, but of localisation: the product has to be adapted to the target culture, must be compliant with local regulations – which may differ from regulations at the source – and must suit the way healthcare is managed in that context.

With the help of the specialised localisation solutions created by CPSL, our client, a worldwide provider of first-class healthcare technology solutions, has been able to deliver clinic management systems anywhere at the right time.

Executive Summary

Our client is a leading US supplier of Healthcare Information Technology solutions, providing healthcare information technology solutions, healthcare devices and related services, such as hospital management systems, with the aim of connecting people and systems around the world, making clinical and health-related information accessible and easy to record. Our client helps customers to gather key and actionable data, enabling them to make informed decisions for better operations.

Over the last 14 years, CPSL has provided language solutions to assist this leading supplier of IT solutions for healthcare with a number of projects, from those that are strictly software-related to online help and documentation (with a total volume of over 50 million words) but has also dealt with DTP, technical software engineering, terminology management and interpreting in client presentations and fact-finding events. The languages involved are usually Spanish, French, German, English, Portuguese, Chinese, Italian, Urdu, Greek and Turkish, with Spanish, German, Swedish and Finnish being working languages in the interpreting projects carried out by the team of CPSL professionals supporting the client.

The most important projects managed by CPSL for this leading health IT solutions supplier have been:

❇︎localisation of their electronic health record platform, its help files and printed documentation;

❇︎translation of their drug database, designed to assist patients and doctors in safely using medicines;

❇︎translation of their Patient Portal, a web-based solution helping people proactively manage their health;

❇︎translation of end-user training and support materials, learning packages and user guides for all the applications they sell, which assist healthcare professionals, from physicians to IT personnel involving a total of around 8.7 million words in French, German, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish and Arabic.

Challenges

The typical challenges of translation and localisation processes are amplified at this health IT solutions supplier. Healthcare and hospital management systems need to be dealt with by highly specialised linguists, who not only have extensive experience in various medical fields, but also in software localisation, and are well versed in using the latest technology in the translation industry. Our client also requires a capable technical partner, able not only to use the same technology but also to master localisation engineering to ensure minimal loss of leverage of translation memories. Such loss of leverage could easily occur if an inexperienced partner were to switch or upgrade systems without first doing the necessary groundwork of considering possible implications, and without having the expertise to provide possible solutions (macros, regular expression, advice). As a healthcare provider, the specific, ongoing challenges faced by our client are time constraints and accuracy. Their business involves competing in bidding processes, where technical offers have to be submitted in the language of the target client’s country. These submissions must be prepared with the greatest attention to detail, whilst meeting strict deadlines. Once contracts are won, the pressure continues: the clients of this health IT solutions supplier need their platforms to be localised in their language in the shortest time possible – meaning that 6 to 8 million words have to be localised in just a few months.

How CPSL helped

CPSL quickly understood what this health IT solutions supplier was trying to achieve and, after a rigorous selection process, created reliable teams of highly qualified and professional linguists, who are evaluated on a regular basis. Quality is guaranteed thanks to the use of glossaries, which are constantly updated: issues of terminology discrepancies could arise when there is conflicting input from different end-users.  CPSL’s work in terminology management has enabled the client to establish consensus, and even prevent inconsistencies, by building databases and having them validated by a designated expert. A robust QA workflow completes the process and makes it error-proof.The client requires significant technical expertise.  CPSL has been able to assist with the finest localisation engineering and by creating macros and workflows customised for the systems they use, minimising the impact of loss of leverage. In a fast-paced sector such as the one in which the client operates, speed of response is essential. CPSL has been capable of providing responsiveness and the desired time to market thanks to our expertise in creating specialised teams of linguists, our capacity for scalability, and our highly efficient project management.

Results, Return on Investment and Future Plans

Thanks to our proficiency in the localisation process, from linguistic quality to technical proficiency, and efficient project management, our client has been able to deliver their product to their clients on time, and has been able to meet tight deadlines on bids for contracts. If you want to overcome the challenges of international business in your industry, and are seeking a superior linguistic partner, contact CPSL today!