Medical writing is a term that encompasses several disciplines and manifests in many different forms. Sharma defines medical writing as “the discipline of writing scientific documents by writers in the field of medicine”2. Additionally, the American Medical Writers Association (AMWA) defines medical writers or medical communicators as “those who write, edit, or develop materials about medicine and health”1.
Types of Medical Writing
If the definitions above seem somewhat broad, they can be broken down into several categories. First, medical writing can be divided into two separate branches.
- Regulatory medical writing
- Educational medical writing
Regulatory Medical Writing
Regulatory medical writing may include but is not limited to the following types of documents:
- Investigator Brochures
- Research proposals
- Investigational New Drug documents
- Clinical trial protocols
- Clinical study reports
- Informed Consent Documents
- Package inserts or product information
- Periodic Safety Update Reports (PSUR)
- Periodic Adverse Drug Experience Reports (PADER)
This type of writing is more technical than educational writing, as it is intended for an audience of medical professionals and researchers. In addition, there are specific formats that must be followed when preparing certain regulatory documents. For example, clinical trial documents must adhere to Food and Drug Administration guidelines. Likewise, PSURs and PADERs each must conform to certain formats.
Educational Medical Writing
Educational medical writing targets a different audience than that of regulatory writing and may be more relaxed in form. Examples include the following:
- Journal articles
- Abstracts
- Posters and presentations
- Magazine articles
- Continuing Medical Education (CME) programs and courses
- Drug monographs
- Patient education brochures and other materials
- Web content
Although journal articles and abstracts adhere to the format of the medical journal, other publications such as magazine articles, web content and patient education brochures may be written in layman’s language. A writer creating patient education brochures and materials takes complex medical terminology and information and presents it in an easily digestible form.
Both magazine articles and web content should be written in the voice of the magazine or website. However, they differ in that web articles usually consist of shorter paragraphs and more heading divisions in order to make the material easier on the scrolling eye.
Forms of Medical Writing
The beauty of medical writing is that it is not limited to traditional print publications. Today medical writers can produce content in an assortment of forms. A medical writer may prepare articles for electronic journals. They may also produce multimedia presentations, videos or podcasts, as well as content for websites and social media sites. Finally, medical writers can help develop mobile applications that may be used for patient education, disease management, continuing education and as reference sources.1
What Does it Take to be a Medical Writer?
First and foremost, a medical writer must know how to write. This means that they have command of the language in which they write, and they are able to effectively synthesize and present information in clear and grammatically correct documents. After this, a background and advanced degree in a science or medical field is advantageous. Such degree might be an MD, PharmD, or PhD in a science related field, such as biology, biochemistry, microbiology, etc.
A medical writer should have therapeutic knowledge in one or more medical fields. For example, an understanding of cardiology, oncology, endocrinology, etc. would enable a writer’s grasp of the concepts and terminology required for writing technical documents in specific fields.
If writing clinical research and regulatory documents, a writer must be knowledgeable about the drug development process, pharmacology, pharmacokinetics and the drug safety process. Additionally, writers preparing regulatory documents should be well versed in the guidelines available for submitting these documents. Those writing about clinical trials and research studies must also have a good understanding of statistics in order to interpret and accurately present data.
Lastly, a writer speaking to the general public or to a patient population must be capable of turning complex research and scientific information into something that can be easily digested by an average sixth grader.
Does any of this sound like something that appeals to you? Or even intrigues you? Visit the American Medical Writers Association at the link below for great resources and more information.
AMWA New Medical Writer Toolkit
References
- American Medical Writers Association. New Medical Writer Toolkit. Retrieved from https://www.amwa.org/page/toolkit_Details#Understand_Role
- Sharma, Suhashini (2010). How to Become a Competent Medical Writer. Perspectives in Clinical Research. 2010 Jan-Mar, 1(1): 33-37. Retrieved from
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3149406/#sec1-1title - Medical Writing Team (2016, May 06). Regulatory Writing – An Integral Part of Clinical Research. Retrieved November 11, 2018, from https://www.quanticate.com/blog/bid/42720/regulatory-writing-an-integral-part-of-clinical-research
