title: Using Google Translate^© in the hospital: A case report.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Doctor-patient communication is essential to the establishment of a therapeutic relationship and to the clinical improvement of the patient. Medical Interpreter Services (MIS) allow the doctors to communicate with patients that do not speak the same language of the clinical staff. However, MIS are not always available and when that happens it is of the upmost importance to find alternatives.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  Presentation of a clinical case in which Google Translate^© (GT^©) was used as a translation tool to communicate with a patient. Discussion of the utility and validity of GT^© as a translation tool in Medicine. A Pubmed search for articles concerning the use of technological innovations as translation tools was performed using the key words: GT^©, language barriers, foreign language, and communication barriers.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In the reported clinical case, GT^© allowed the translation and the establishment of communication with a foreign patient. The Pubmed search found two articles concerning the use and validity of GT^© as a translation tool in Medicine.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  GT^© is the most readily available and free initial mode of communication between a doctor and a patient when language is a barrier. Nonetheless, GT^
authors.forename: Fernando Ochoa
authors.initials: FO
authors.lastname: Leite
authors.forename: Catarina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cochat
authors.forename: Henrique
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Salgado
authors.forename: Mariana Pinto
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: da Costa
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Queirós
authors.forename: Olga
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Campos
authors.forename: Paulo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Carvalho
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D003142:Communication; D003144:Communication Barriers; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D008297:Male; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D011174:Portugal; D014175:Translating; D014455:Ukraine
keywords: Google Translate^©; Medical translation; communication