ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the translation (KT) in medicine and healthcare. KT refers to a variety of scientific practices and research activities bound together by the common goal of ‘bridging the gap’ between science in laboratories and clinical application, and, more generally, putting research-based knowledge into policy and practical care. ‘Translation’ has emerged as a key word in disciplines such as cultural studies, anthropology and science and technology studies. The turn to translation in medicine is, however, of a different kind, aimed at preserving the identity of the scientific message, at celebrating epistemic or cultural difference. While interlingual translation crosses boundaries between languages, KT aims to cross the space between biomedical science and practical healthcare. RCTs are often referred to as the ‘gold standard’ of modern clinical medicine and they are currently the only proper way of testing knowledge produced by science.
