Implementation of multilingual support of the European Multicenter Study about Spinal Cord Injury (EMSCI) ISNCSCI calculator

Spinal Cord, 2022 · DOI: 10.1038/s41393-021-00672-y · Published: August 17, 2021

Spinal Cord Injury Telehealth & Digital Health

Simple Explanation

The electronic ISNCSCI calculators have become crucial for accurate spinal cord injury classifications in education, research, and clinical practice. To make these calculators more accessible, they need to support multiple languages. This study focused on adding multilingual support to the freely available ISNCSCI calculator of the European Multicenter Study about Spinal Cord Injury (EMSCI).

Study Duration

Not specified

Participants

Not specified

Evidence Level

Not specified

Key Findings

1
The graphical user interface (GUI) and PDF export of the ISNCSCI worksheet were adapted for multilingual implementations.
2
The default language of the calculator is set according to the user’s preferences with the additional possibility for manual language selection.
3
Chinese and Czech translations were provided freely to the SCI community.

Research Summary

This study successfully implemented multilingual support for the EMSCI ISNCSCI calculator, including the GUI and PDF export. Chinese and Czech versions were created and made available to the SCI community. The internationalization process established a framework for adding new languages independently of software developers, enhancing the accessibility and utility of the calculator for training and classification purposes.

Practical Implications

Increased Accessibility

Multilingual support increases the usability of the ISNCSCI calculator for non-English speakers, particularly Chinese-speaking clinicians.

Improved Training

The multilingual calculator serves as a valuable tool for training examiners in correct ISNCSCI classification, leading to more accurate assessments.

Enhanced Data Quality

By facilitating correct ISNCSCI classification, the calculator improves the quality of data used in clinical decision-making and research.

Study Limitations

1
The I18N has a technical limitation regarding text directional-ities, i.e., text is written right-to-left (or dextrosinistral), left-to-right (or sinistrodextral) or boustrophedon (changes of text direction-ality after each row).
2
The translators cannot upload their translations directly into calculator, which needs to done manually by a system administrator.
3
This work is based on the ISNCSCI version revised 2011 and updated in 2015 [15].

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