8 Crucial Steps in The Journey of Medical Writing
8 Crucial Steps in The Journey of Medical Writing
The importance of medical writing has been recognised vividly in the in the pharmaceutical industry. Since medical writing needs specialised understanding, skill sets, and knowledge about various scientific documents, its importance has attained much attention in the recent past. The increasing demands of well- structured and comprehensive medical writing has been recognised as an upcoming profession that is responsible for offering higher-level information to the medical professionals and patients. It is under this responsibility that the medical writers are accountable for giving detailed information, documenting the medical discoveries and sharing research based news, on a daily basis. The objective of a medical writer is to offer support and knowledge to people in general for safeguarding and treating their health in the noblest way. This is definitely a job with great responsibility. However, by considering the 8 crucial steps in medical writing the writer can well justify this profession.
The 8 crucial steps for medical writing are-
Step 1: Get Focused
Prior to the decision of writing a medical content, it is important for you to be focussed in the field of writing. The first step of 8 crucial steps for medical writing is to develop the sense of responsibility for delivering right and valid content to the readers and viewers. For this purpose, the medical writer must have some determined skills, which will be need for developing reliable and authentic documents. The medical writer must remain focussed on the following skill sets:
All these skills are to be implied to the process of writing a medical content that can justify the expertise of the writer.
Step 2: Choose a Field
Selection of the medical field is very crucial. The notable fields could be disease management, medical education, medical training, health monitoring. It is always suggested to pick up a field that you understand. Vague approach to any medical field can be lethal. It is therefore important for the medical writer to have adequate hold in the domain of medical knowledge and in understanding the readers.
Domain of Medical Knowledge
The medical writer must have substantial knowledge in all kinds of therapeutic areas. The medical writer must be well aware of every regulatory as well as scientific regulations related to the respective subject. The medical guidelines and all the basics to advanced statistical concepts must remain clear to the medical writer.
Understanding the Readers
It is very necessary that the medical writer is skilful enough in offering an article that is comprehensive to the regulators, doctors, scientists, specialists, patients and even to the non-professionals.
Step 3: Collect Knowledge
The process of collecting relevant data and information about the respective field of healthcare needs voracious reading. You need to learn about the selected field and thereby understand the ways it functions. In this provision, the medical writer should be able to maintain integrity in the collected medical data and should be able to offer up-to-date information to the readers.
Integrity of Medical Data
There must be the skilful way of integrating all the data related to the respective medical field. Here, the selection of relevant information is the key. The medical writer must be skilful enough to maintain absolute accuracy and security of the collected data.
Offering Latest Medical Inventions
The medical writer needs to offer every information related to the possibilities of gaining good health. For this purpose, the medical writer must be skilful enough in delivering information about latest medical inventions. It is highly recommended that the medical writers should undergo research-based online seminars and training courses on a regular basis.
Step 4: Explore Relevant Resources
The fourth step of 8 crucial steps for medical writing is to explore innumerable resources. Reading medical books, peer‑reviewed articles and online resources are of great help in gaining knowledge about the selected field of medical research. However, in doing so, it is important to follow only relevantly authentic medical sites. Thus, it is very important for the medical writer to understand that the process of exploring relevant resources that justify the type of article that the writer is pursuing.
There are 5 types of medical writing:
Medical Journalism
For a medical writer the documents for medical journalism are subject to address the public in general. With the advent of information technology, the content crosses borders in juts a click. This is the reason that the medical writing for medical journalism must comprises of formal and simple languages to suit the medical magazines and newspapers.
Marketing Healthcare Products
Medical writing for marketing purposes must comprise communicative and informative content. Since these contents are written for biotechnological or pharmaceutical companies, they must be developed to meet their developmental and promotional purposes through appropriate advertising information. Product monographs, training manuals, reviews, and advertisements are part of these writings.
Medical Publications
Medical writing for publication purposes is more academic in nature. These contents target seminars, conferences and the journals. Such writings must remain free from plagiarism. The medical writer should be well support every declaration by adequate references. Books, informed consent forms, research manuscripts, clinical study reports, investigators brochures, subject diaries are some of its kind.
Regulatory Documents
The medical writing for regulatory documents is meant to attain submissions for marketing approvals. Such approvals can be for introducing new drugs or some innovative clinical trials. The language has to be very technical. The regulatory documents can be identified as Common Technical Document (or the CTD), drugs’ package inserts, and annual reports.
Medical Education
Medical writing for medical educational purposes can target the physicians, different kinds of healthcare professionals, and even the students and patients studying about a particular medical concern. Offering comprehensive understanding through PowerPoint presentations, textbooks, Continued Medical Education (CME) programs are some the basic provisions of this format of writing.
Step 5: Understand Terminologies
Understanding the medical terminologies is a challenge for the medical writer. The quick way to understand a complex terminology is to study the background of the word. This lexicological approach of understanding terminologies offers great insight into the process of gaining knowledge about the respective medical subject.
Right Search of Information
In order to understand and use the terminologies appropriately, the medical writer must consider a well-planned strategy for searching appropriate information. Use of right keywords and recognition of well-reputed medical journals are the right way of writing a valid medical article.
Interpersonal Communicative Skills
In order to incorporate the medical terminologies to the understanding level of the reader, the medical writer must imply interpersonal communicative skills. Application of right verbal as well as non-verbal modes communicative language is the key. The writer should be able to understand the mind-set of the reader and should offer appropriate solution to the issue, in a very simple communicative way.
Step 6: Appropriate Language
This is the crucial stage of medical writing, where the writer needs to transform the medically expressed terminologies to the nonprofessionals’ language. As for instance, instead of long duration, you need to write “chronic,” cause must be stated as “aetiology” and spread should be expressed as “transmit.”
However, it is also the responsibility of the medical writer to offer very comprehensive understanding of the medical terms so that people can understand them in a very general manner. The medical writer must have the skills of lucid writing and clarity in expressing language.
Lucid Writing Skills
The skill to offer all the necessary information in the most lucid manner is the key to success. The medical writer needs to offer massive information in a very concise and crisp manner. The articulation of the medical content must be supported by logical interpretations and authentic declarations.
Absolute Language Clarity
The medical writer must offer clear declarations of the objectives, and should be able to organise all kinds of vivid ideas with appropriate capability of adding information in a creative manner. A quality medical content must have appropriate language quality so that the readers can understand it in the first reading.
Step 7: Systematic Content
The written medical content must be systematically arranged. It is always advisable to follow the following structure -
In the process, the medical writer needs to take care of the grammar, spelling, and punctuations of the content. Any error at this front makes the content unreliable. The approach of writing should be confidently independent and should be prepared within the decided timeline.
Independent Point of View
The medical writer should be able to maintain an independent point of view while explaining the context. The content should be correct on medically proven grounds. However, along with this, the content must have critically acclaimed reviews, and potential limitations must be discussed for avoiding any mishap.
Managing Projects On-time
It is very important for the medical writer to accomplish an article in due time. It is necessary as the search for the particular subject runs in the internet for a specific time. To meet maximum views on the article, it is very important that the writers accomplish their projects within the instructed period.
Step 8: Get Accepted
The scope for medical articles can be enhanced by circulating it in social media. This is the reason that after writing the medical content, the last step of 8 crucial steps for medical writing is to be accepted by the medical professionals. It is always suggested to get the content approved by all the stakeholders related to the field of medical. The information offered in the content should be medically authenticated. In order to be approved by the target audience, the writer must share the content in various community boards and medical conference pages.
Eventually, it is necessary for the writer of medical writing to realise that this is a very noble profession. It is capable of connecting scientifically researched medical inventions to both professionals and non-professionals. This profession involves the opportunities for generating better health conditions for the human race.
