Department of Practice & Science, University of Arizona College of Pharmacy Tucson, AZ, USA.
Pharmacy Practice Department, College of Clinical Pharmacy, King Faisal University, Hofuf, Saudi Arabia.
Am J Health Syst Pharm. 2021 Nov 9;78(22):2053-2058. doi: 10.1093/ajhp/zxab224.
A study was conducted to evaluate the accuracy of Google Translate (Google LLC, Mountain View, CA) when used to translate directions for use and counseling points for the top 100 drugs used in the United States into Arabic, Chinese (simplified), and Spanish.
Directions for use and common counseling points for the top 100 drugs were identified by 2 clinicians. This information was translated from English to Arabic, Chinese (simplified), and Spanish using Google Translate. Two nonclinician, bilingual native speakers of each language back-translated the Google Translate translation into English and determined if the sentence made sense in their native language. Two clinicians reviewed the back-translations to determine the clinical significance of each inaccurate translation.
For the top 100 drugs, 38 unique directions for use and 170 unique counseling points were identified for translation. For the 38 directions for use, 29 (76.3%) of the Arabic translations were accurate, 34 (89.5%) of the Chinese (simplified) translations were accurate, and 27 (71%) of the Spanish translations were accurate. For the 170 counseling points, 92 (54.1%) of the Arabic translations were accurate, 130 (76.5%) of the Chinese (simplified) translations were accurate, and 65 (38.2%) of the Spanish translations were accurate. Of the 247 inaccurate translations, 72 (29.1%) were classified as highly clinically significant or potentially life-threatening.
Certified translators should be used to translate directions for use and common counseling points for prescription medications into Arabic, Chinese (simplified), and Spanish. Clinicians should be aware of the risk of inaccurate translation when Google Translate is used.
本研究旨在评估 Google Translate（Google LLC，美国加利福尼亚州山景城）在将美国使用最多的 100 种药物的使用说明和咨询要点翻译成阿拉伯语、中文（简体）和西班牙语时的准确性。
由 2 名临床医生确定使用说明和最常用药物的咨询要点。使用 Google Translate 将这些信息从英语翻译成阿拉伯语、中文（简体）和西班牙语。每种语言的 2 名非临床双语母语者将 Google Translate 的翻译回译为英语，并确定其在母语中的句子是否有意义。2 名临床医生对回译内容进行审查，以确定每个不准确翻译的临床意义。
对于前 100 种药物，共确定了 38 个独特的使用说明和 170 个独特的咨询要点进行翻译。在 38 个使用说明中，29 个（76.3%）阿拉伯语翻译是准确的，34 个（89.5%）中文（简体）翻译是准确的，27 个（71%）西班牙语翻译是准确的。在 170 个咨询要点中，92 个（54.1%）阿拉伯语翻译是准确的，130 个（76.5%）中文（简体）翻译是准确的，65 个（38.2%）西班牙语翻译是准确的。在 247 个不准确的翻译中，有 72 个（29.1%）被归类为高度临床意义或潜在危及生命。
在将处方药物的使用说明和常见咨询要点翻译成阿拉伯语、中文（简体）和西班牙语时，应使用经过认证的翻译人员。当使用 Google Translate 时，临床医生应意识到翻译不准确的风险。
