Fundamentals for Beginning or Growing a Career in Medical Writing

Medical research is a never-ending journey. Fresh hypotheses, innovative methods, and growing clinical experience all contribute to the ever-expanding field of medicine. And with every discovery about a disease or its treatment, information must be effectively conveyed to many audiences, from healthcare professionals and drug regulators to patients and the general public.

• Six Primary Professional Focus Areas in Medical Communication
• Become a Certified Medical Writing Professional (CMWP)

1. Build Your Knowledge

Every medical writer must have a basic understanding of life science concepts and terminology. However, it goes without saying that a deeper understanding of the topic at hand greatly facilitates many forms of medical writing. Expanding your knowledge of different medical specialties builds a strong foundational knowledge for discussing critical health-related concepts with your intended audience.

Moreover, understanding the review process for drugs and medical devices—alongside the complex reporting requirements put forth by different regulatory bodies—is especially important for writers who produce regulatory documents.

2. Sharpen Your Analytical and Statistical Skills

Medical writers perform a variety of analyses, from data analysis to industry analysis. Regardless of their niche, medical writers scan numerous documents such as medical journals and literature, and compress large amounts of information into concise, clear, and truthful content that reads well to their audience.

When summarizing the results of research studies, statistics are almost always vital to the original authors’ findings and subsequent conclusions. A basic understanding of t-tests, P values, and regression analyses is fundamental for all medical writers, especially those responsible for reporting the results of clinical studies.

3. Stay Consistent and Take Ownership

One of the keys to boosting your success as a medical writer is consistently delivering high-quality work. Clients see consistency as a sign of high personal standards, reliability, and an orientation toward growth.

As a medical writer, taking ownership of your work is imperative. You are expected to remain accountable for each fact you present, whether you’re writing a conference presentation, product information manual or patient education materials. Accuracy and transparency are non-negotiable.

4. Keep Yourself Up-To-Date

Another hallmark of a professional medical writer is staying up-to-date with the industry's newest developments. Subscribing to major journals, attending key events and conferences, and completing ongoing training are all excellent ways to stay abreast of a field that’s constantly expanding.

One attribute recruiters tend to favor is writing certifications. Medical writers who have undergone training at a well-recognized and reputable organization have the necessary credentials to support their portfolio.

5. Practice Plain Language Principles

Writing in plain language is an essential skill for medical writers, and it’s not limited to creating content for laypeople. Indeed, writing in plain language improves clarity for even scientific and medical audiences.

Depending on how you build your medical writing career, being able to write in plain language may become essential to your growth. Some essential plain language principles to start practicing are:

• Organizing content to better serve your audience’s needs 
• Prioritize active voice
• Utilize tables and graphs to convey complex information
• Create useful headings to separate sections
• Use familiar words and terms whenever possible

Practicing these principles now will improve your current assignments and help advance your career, especially if you take on roles focusing on conveying information to the general public.

Medical writing and communication have several key focus areas to help you advance your medical writing career. If one of these areas grabs your attention, you can start refining your medical writing skills now to work towards it. Medical writing courses will help establish your baseline skill set to prepare you for these advanced specialties.

The American Medical Writers Association has defined potential focus areas into six categories. Specializing in any of these areas can help find clients looking specifically for these skills. Read through the following focuses and see which ones are intriguing. You can then begin medical writing training with your long-term goal in mind.

1. Scientific Publications

Healthcare facilities, pharmaceutical companies, and medical universities frequently submit scientific research papers to journals for publication. These journals help build authority for these organizations while sharing their findings with the greater scientific and medical community.

You’ll be responsible for working with researchers to create and refine research results before submission to scientific journals. A subset of this focus area is medical writers who create summaries of conferences or write medical news articles. A strong understanding of data analytics and the scientific process is necessary for this specialty.

2. Regulatory Writing

Pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies commonly need to convey information to regulatory agencies. These organizations require specific documentation to have drugs, medical devices, or biological agents approved by applicable regulatory parties.

Regulatory writers create these documents by leveraging data visualization, structured content management, and lay summaries to help their clients earn approval. Specializing in this type of writing requires a high amount of attention to detail and an understanding of current regulations. Additional medical writing certification courses are worth considering to prepare you for regulatory writing.

3. Grantsmanship

Grants are vital for continual research and development for many medical organizations worldwide. Grantsmanship is the skill of writing grant proposals for your clients, and it’s a skill that’s always in need.

You’ll be responsible for writing and editing grant proposals and potentially finding grant opportunities. This type of medical writing requires many of the same skills as other specialties but also requires an element of persuasive writing to demonstrate why your client should receive grant funding.

4. Promotional Writing

Companies throughout the medical industry require promotion writing, such as press releases, promotional articles, and potentially social media advertisements. Additionally, you may create content for promotion to other medical or healthcare organizations rather than the general public.

An essential skill for medical promotional writing is understanding regulations regarding promoting drugs or medical devices. While working within these guidelines, you’ll need to convey the benefits and effects of the given product effectively.

5. Health Communication

This focus area encompasses many materials intended to communicate important health information to laypeople, public health agencies, and journalists. This type of health communication is not always concerned with marketing but with accurately and concisely conveying information to those needing it.

You’ll need a strong understanding of plain language principles, cultural awareness, and visual aid leveraging as a supplement to written content. Additionally, it’s essential to understand all applicable regulations regarding promoting and marketing medical products, as health communication may fall under those guidelines.

6. Education for Professionals

Professionals throughout the medical industry require continued education, and this focus area will prepare you for writing educational materials. Medical education companies typically produce this type of content and frequently produce new content for nurses, doctors, field-based sales staff, and administrative staff.

Medical writing focusing on education requires similar medical and scientific proficiency as other areas, but with the addition of understanding adult learning principles. You may also work with other media formats or with a team of graphic designers and video production professionals.

Are you ready to begin or grow your career in medical writing? Having the right medical technical writing training is essential. The Center for Professional Innovation and Education (CfPIE) is a leading global provider of high-quality life sciences training.

Become a Certified Medical Writing Professional (CMWP) with CfPIE’s comprehensive CMWP program, which gives participants the following:

• Hands-on training for medical and technical writing
• Essential lessons regarding regulatory compliance
• Critical insights into the submission process
• Official certification for medical writing

Are you interested in improving your medical writing skills with ongoing training? Our online medical writing courses can help you continually grow your career. Contact the CfPIE team at 1-610-648-7550 or [email protected] to get started today.