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Discharge summary translation for a clinic abroad

A discharge summary is the biography of your treatment: what happened, when, what was prescribed and how it worked. A professor abroad draws up the treatment plan from this very text, so every date, dose and abbreviation in the translation has to read as if the summary had been written in their language. That is exactly what we do: the translator translates, the editor compares, and you receive a document the clinic accepts without questions.

  • Abbreviation list before you orderWe clarify unclear abbreviations with the issuing doctor

  • One translator per medical historyThe same specialist translates your later documents too

  • Up to 10 pages in 1-3 daysIn urgent mode two translators work in parallel

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Upload the whole discharge summary. We will count the pages, assess the density and tell you the exact price and timing.

Discharge summary

Counting the pages and the assessment are free; we start only after you confirm the order.

In short: discharge summary translation in six points

  • The discharge summary is translated in full, from the history to the recommendations given at discharge, because a foreign doctor needs the whole course of treatment.
  • Every medicine is written in the translation under its international non-proprietary name (INN), with the brand name used on the Georgian market kept in brackets.
  • In the operation report, the implant manufacturer, model and size are carried over unchanged, because the next surgeon plans the procedure on exactly this data.
  • A page is counted as a standard 1,800 characters, so the price of a dense discharge summary does not exactly follow the number of physical sheets.
  • We also translate discharge summaries issued abroad into Georgian, so that treatment can continue in Georgia without delay.
  • For a clinic, a translation certified with the bureau's stamp is usually enough; a notary is added for official procedures.

Four places in a discharge summary where an inaccuracy changes the treatment

A discharge summary is written by a doctor for a doctor: dense, full of abbreviations, often corrected by hand. Translating it calls for an understanding of clinical reasoning even more than language skills.

  • Abbreviations that can mean two things

    Georgian discharge summaries mix Russian, Latin and English abbreviations. "ХСН" and "CHF" are the same thing, while "АД" is blood pressure, not a venous route. The translator has to understand from the context what the doctor meant, or a new diagnosis appears in the translation.

  • The medication regimen

    In Georgian practice "1x2" means one tablet twice a day, while in some countries it is read the other way round. We translate the regimen in a spelled-out, unambiguous form: dose, frequency, duration, route of administration, and the medicine under its international name.

  • The operation report

    The description of surgical steps, implant models and drains is the part the next surgeon reads most closely. There is no "approximately" here: a term is either exact or an error.

  • Dates and the course of treatment

    A discharge summary is a chronology. A changed date format, one test dropped from a trend, or "3 days" instead of "day 3" distorts the picture of the treatment. We keep the chronology in the order of the original.

How we work on a discharge summary

  1. Terminology list

    Before translating, we list every abbreviation, medicine and procedure in the discharge summary. Anything unclear we check with you or the issuing doctor rather than guess.

  2. Translation that keeps the structure

    Headings, sections, tables and chronology follow the original, so the doctor can easily compare the translation with it.

  3. Comparative check

    A second specialist compares dates, doses, laboratory values and anatomical terms line by line. The check is included in the price.

  4. Format for the clinic

    A PDF with the bureau's stamp and the translator's declaration, with notarisation if needed. The scan by email, the original by courier.

The indicative price per page and standard turnaround times are on the main medical translation page. For a discharge summary we count a page as a standard 1,800 characters, so a dense page may count as two: we will tell you this before you order.

Medicines in an inpatient discharge summary: from brand name to international name

In a discharge summary, medicines are not in a single list but scattered across the whole course of treatment: on admission, on the day of surgery, in infusions, at discharge. The same drug may appear under different names in different parts of the text, so before translating we gather all the names into one list and settle each of them once.

Entry in the original (literal rendering) Translation (English) What we pay attention to
Clexane 0,4 ml subcutaneously, once a day Enoxaparin (Clexane) 0.4 mL s.c. once daily The active substance comes first, the brand name in brackets; the decimal comma becomes a point, and a volume stays a volume.
Analgin 50% 2 ml в/м Metamizole (Analgin) 50% 2 mL i.m. The Russian abbreviation "в/м" means intramuscular injection. In some countries this medicine is not registered, and with the INN the doctor sees at once what the patient received.
Phys. solution 500 ml в/в by drip 0.9% sodium chloride 500 mL IV infusion The everyday name is dropped and the concentration is stated plainly, so no question remains about what the infusion contained.
Ceftriaxone 1,0 в/в Ceftriaxone 1 g IV In post-Soviet notation, "1,0" without a unit means grams for a powder medicine; in the translation we state the unit plainly, and if in doubt we check with the doctor.
Omez 20 mg, twice a day Omeprazole (Omez) 20 mg twice daily The brand name is regional, while the active substance reads the same in every country.

For a combination medicine we list every active substance with its dose. If a brand name is found only on the local market, we check its composition against the medicine's official leaflet, not from memory. Agents and doses named in the anaesthesia record are translated by the same rule, because when a repeat operation is planned, these are exactly what the anaesthetist looks for.

When the discharge summary comes from abroad: translation into Georgian to continue treatment

A German Entlassungsbrief, a Turkish epikriz raporu or an English discharge summary is taken to a Georgian doctor in Georgia, who continues the treatment, orders check-ups and writes prescriptions. Translation in this direction has its own rules.

  • Diagnosis codes with markers. In German discharge summaries the ICD-10-GM code is often accompanied by the letter G, V, Z or A and a side marker R, L or B; we keep all of it unchanged and explain it in Georgian at first occurrence.
  • Procedure codes. A German OPS code or another country's national procedure code stays in the translation, with the full name of the operation written out next to it.
  • Medicines prescribed at discharge. We write the active substance next to the foreign brand name, while the choice of an equivalent remains the Georgian doctor's decision.
  • Timelines and check-ups. "Check-up in 6 weeks" or "removal of stitches on day 10" is translated exactly as written, and if the starting point is unclear, we flag it in a note.
  • Recommendations for the patient. We render wound care, activity limits and thrombosis prevention into Georgian the family can understand, without losing terminological precision.

In the opposite direction, when the translation of a Georgian discharge summary goes to a foreign insurance company or a government body, notarisation is often followed by an apostille: check whether the destination country requires an apostille or legalisation. You can work out an indicative price for the size of your discharge summary with the translation price calculator; we will tell you the exact price after counting the pages.

Frequently asked questions about discharge summary translation

How long does it take to translate a 12-15 page discharge summary?

In standard mode, 2-3 working days including the check. The pace is set not by the number of pages but by their density: medication tables, laboratory trends and the operation report usually take twice as long as ordinary text. If the clinic has set a deadline, tell us: in urgent mode two translators work on the document at the same time from a shared terminology list, an editor merges their work at the end, and 15 pages are ready in one working day.

Does a German clinic need the discharge summary in German, or is English enough?

Most large university hospitals and international departments accept an English discharge summary for the cost estimate, but once treatment starts and the document reaches the ward doctors, the anaesthetist and the pharmacy, a German version makes their work easier and lowers the risk of error. Our recommendation: English for the cost estimate, the clinic's language for treatment, unless the clinic tells you otherwise. We check this with the clinic before you order, so you do not pay twice.

Can I have only the concluding part of the discharge summary translated?

Technically yes, but for a clinic this is almost never enough: the professor is interested precisely in the course of treatment, what happened during it and how the body responded. A partial translation usually leads to a repeat request and lost time. The exception is very long histories with several hospital stays: in such cases we agree with the clinic which episodes it needs in full and which as a summary, and we state this clearly in the translation.

Can a foreign discharge summary be translated into Georgian for a Georgian doctor?

Yes, and this direction is just as important. The discharge summary from treatment abroad arrives in Turkish, German or English, while follow-up treatment, check-ups and prescriptions happen in Georgia. We translate into Georgian so that the Georgian doctor understands the foreign protocol exactly: medicines by their international names and, where one exists, with the equivalent available on the Georgian market, doses and regimen unchanged. Such a translation does not usually need notarisation.

A medicine named in my discharge summary is not sold abroad. Will the translation help with this?

Partly. We write every medicine under its international non-proprietary name, which lets a foreign doctor or pharmacist find the same active substance under its local brand name. If the medicine combines several substances, we list each component with its dose. Only the doctor decides on a substitute, though: some active substances are not registered at all in a given country, and then it means an alternative treatment. The translator does not choose an equivalent or recommend one, because that is a medical decision.

The diagnoses in a German discharge summary have the letter G, V or Z next to them. What does it mean, and is it translated?

These are additional markers of the German coding system that add the level of diagnostic certainty to the ICD-10 code: G stands for a confirmed diagnosis, V for a suspected one, Z for a condition after a past illness or procedure, and A for an excluded one. A side marker is often added too: R for right, L for left, B for bilateral. In the Georgian translation we keep the code with its markers unchanged and explain their meaning at first use, so the Georgian doctor does not confuse a suspected diagnosis with a confirmed one.

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