Thread: Measures in medical forms

Hi,
I have some medical reports in Spanish that are going to be translated into English. Should I keep the units in the metric system or convert them to inches, pounds, etc.?

I would suggest using the International System of Units, since all the Spanish speaking countries use it.

Thank you, but these files will be read by native English speakers in the US. I'm not sure if they will understand the cm, Celsius degrees and kg at a first glance.

Then I guess you should use the American system, but if not sure you may want use the International System between brackets...

My guess would be to leave all measurements as they appear in the source file. If the client doesn't specify he wants them converted. In this case, As Levices said, I think you should use the US system with the original numbers between parenthesis... but that's just my opinion. You can always ask the client, because for those type of things, it's always preferential, and changes depending on the client. What do you think?

The client doesn't have a particular preference. I am just thinking about the possible end user of those documents. American doctors will have to calculate everything while they read.
Adding both systems could be an option too. I'll wait for the client to confirm.

Originally Posted by nabylm

My guess would be to leave all measurements as they appear in the source file. If the client doesn't specify he wants them converted. In this case, As Levices said, I think you should use the US system with the original numbers between parenthesis... but that's just my opinion. You can always ask the client, because for those type of things, it's always preferential, and changes depending on the client. What do you think?

I agree. I have transcribed dozens of medical reports from Latin America and translated them into English. According to the client's protocol instructions, I had to leave the measurements as they were.

Thank you for the option wolfmario. It depends on the client's preference then.
And it made me wonder. What was the best format for the measures? Were 5'1" or 33.2 in right?

Originally Posted by danielr

Thank you for the option wolfmario. It depends on the client's preference then.
And it made me wonder. What was the best format for the measures? Were 5'1" or 33.2 in right?

No, Danielr, metric system measurements are formatted according to that system: 3 mm, 2 m, 0,4 cm, etc. No conversions, unless the customer wants it explicitly (according to my experience).