[Translation of the Richmond Agitation-Sedation Scale (RASS) for use in German Swiss intensive care units].

In intensive care units, patients are sedated to reduce the stress caused by illness and/or treatments such as artificial respiration. Regular assessment of the degree of sedation as part of the goal-directed therapy has been recommended as a standard of care. The Swiss Society of Intensive Care Medicine requires all accredited Swiss intensive care units to periodically document the degree of sedation by means of a sedation scale as part of the minimal data set (MDSi). The ten-level Richmond Agitation-Sedation Scale (RASS) is one of two proposed scales for the assessment of the degree of sedation. Because validated versions of the recommended sedation scales exist in English only, the RASS was translated by a systematic iterative procedure in six steps. The iterative translation of the RASS for use in Swiss intensive care units described in this article is an example of interdisciplinary teamwork. Translation of clinical assessment tools for clinical use should be carried out as carefully and stringently as the development of research tools. Based on the experience gained in the described project we recommend the following points to consider when translating clinical assessment tools: a) referring to literature not only on the subject of translation but also on the process of translation itself, b) involving professional translators as language experts, and c) consulting the author(s) of the original version.