Sep 23, 2019 11:28
4 yrs ago
Finnish term

potilaalle vaihdettu [lääke]

Finnish to English Other Medical (general)
From a medical report:

"Potilasohjauksessa psoripotilaalle vaihdettu [lääke X] perhesuunnittelun perusteella"

Here, "[lääke X]" is the name of a specific medication ("Medication X").

Does this mean that:

1) The patient was switched to Medication X (having previously been on another medication)

or that

2) The Medication X that the patient had been receiving was switched (to something else)

?

Contextually, option #1 seems much likelier to me, but it doesn't quite square with the meaning of "vaihtaa" that I know ("to replace", etc.). If one is replacing X with Y, then I expect the direct object of "vaihtaa" to be X, and the indirect object to be Y.

Thanks
Proposed translations (English)
5 Switched to medication X

Discussion

Tarja Karjalainen Sep 25, 2019:
This might explain the uses of "vaihtaa" in Finnish (the context of professional jargon may also have a bearing on its use): https://www.kielitoimistonsanakirja.fi/netmot.exe?ListWord=v...
G. L. (asker) Sep 24, 2019:
Thanks. What confused me wasn't the lack of reference to the previous medication, but rather that the new medication seems to be the direct object of "vaihtaa". Instead of that, I expected a structure like "[entinen lääke] vaihdettiin [uudella lääkkeellä]", or "... [uudelle lääkkeelle]". Was this a reasonable expectation? Or, do I have a deficient understanding of how "vaihtaa" is used?
Tarja Karjalainen Sep 24, 2019:
Hi, I think your option 1 is more likely to be correct; medication was changed to X. Wider context might of course provide more clues (e.g. old/new medication list), or then could check the reproductive toxicity of [lääke X]. Perhaps in the medical report it is assumed that the reader is familiar with the treatment, so there is no need to repeat the name of the old medication, as you would do in another type of report.

Proposed translations

19 hrs
Selected

Switched to medication X

It's clearly option 1.
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