Medical Equipment Translation - A Case Study

Blatchford was founded in 1890, and is a pioneering, industry-leading manufacturer of lower limb prosthetic devices.

Their products are considered the most advanced in the world and are designed to improve quality of life for both amputees and their caregivers, and enable patients to live their lives to the full, feeling confident, secure and integrated with their prosthetic leg, knee, ankle, foot, or limb system.

With headquarters in Germany, America and the UK, Blatchford’s products are distributed across the world, creating the requirement for medical equipment translation services in over 25 languages.

The Importance of Medical Equipment Translation

Prosthetic limbs are categorised as medical devices, and as such, Blatchford must adhere to Medical Device Regulatory requirements which stipulate that an Instruction for Use must be supplied with their products, in the language of the clinician fitting the prosthetic.

Having expanded their sales around the globe, Blatchford needed to find a language services provider with a broader range of capabilities who could support them to translate their Instruction for Use documents and User Guides into 25 languages, ranging from European, to Chinese, Arabic and Scandinavian.

Our medical equipment translation services not only enable Blatchford to comply with stringent legal requirements, but ensure that their patients’ prosthetics are fitted correctly so they can be used to their full potential.

Our Approach

The process began with a detailed brief from Blatchford, explaining how they set up their technical documentation, and exactly how they’d like Andiamo! to handle their multilingual files.

We assigned a dedicated Project Manager to look after the Blatchford account, who, together with our Vendor Control team, assembled a team of specialist translators and revisors who had been tested on Blatchford’s work to ensure they could deliver the quality of medical equipment translation required.

We also set up translation memories for Blatchford. TMs are used by translators to avoid translating the same words and phrases over and over again and to support consistency of translations.

When we analyse a new file from Blatchford, the translation memory ascertains whether the text has been translated before and identifies matches, for which we offer discounts. These TMs also enable us to ensure consistency of terminology and style across all Blatchford projects.

When translations are completed and have been checked as part of our gold standard service the Andiamo! DTP team begin typesetting the technical documentation. We then return the final medical equipment translations to the client as Adobe InDesign files.

We use Andiamo to translate our complex technical documents into multiple languages and the team there are a pleasure to work with.

Efficient, friendly and flexible but more importantly reliable. I know when I send through requests they will be responded to quickly and thoroughly.

Their consistent service and quality of work is why they have been supplying our translation services for the past 4 years.

The Challenges of Medical Equipment Translation

Working with Blatchford presented two challenges for Andiamo!

The first was accessing specialist knowledge bases. Although many of our skilled and qualified translators are specialised in the medical field, we conducted assessments to identify the individuals who had the most complete understanding and knowledge of prosthetics, to ensure we placed Blatchford’s medical equipment translation projects with our most suitable translators.

The second challenge was Blatchford’s very specific DTP requirements. Our Typesetting team spent a lot of time familiarising themselves with the requirements outlined in Blatchford’s original briefing document (which remains a helpful working document for the team today), to ensure the translated multilingual documents match the source’s original formatting and layout.

Around the time we began working with Blatchford, we also went through a rigorous audit process, resulting in us achieving an ISO 13485:2016 certification for medical devices, which helped to reassure the client of the high standards of quality we maintain.

The Results of Our Translation

Our medical equipment translation service has enabled Blatchford to target a broader range of markets all over the world and increase their global sales.

Blatchford rely on our work because it helps to guarantee their compliance with global Medical Device Regulatory requirements, enabling them to trade legally, and ensures that their complex and technical product information can be understood in all territories, to effectively empower and support patients and clinicians alike, and in turn strengthen the amazing reputation of their products.

If we can support your business with translation for medical devices, contact our team today to discuss your requirements.

Email info@andiamo.co.uk or call us on 08450 345677.

08450 345677