Medical Writers Research Articles

How can coaching or mentoring help you craft a sustainable freelance career?

This article explores the major challenges and strategies for succeeding as a freelance medical writer. It covers several topics, including finding enough work, managing heavy workloads, ensuring document quality, and carving out time for professional development and financial management. Here, we provide some insights and practical advice to help freelance medical writers overcome these challenges, increase their productivity, and thrive in our profession.

Charting your way to the top: The 12 major milestones of freelance medical writing

As a freelance medical writer, it’s tough to know how well you’re doing – conventional career metrics don’t apply and you don’t have a boss keeping tabs on you. Yet, for your medical writing business to stand the test of time, with you at the helm, you need to be able to measure your success and know what’s next in terms of personal and professional growth. The good news is that countless freelancers have gone before you, leaving a trail of breadcrumbs to help you find your way. Learn how to identify and interpret these breadcrumbs and use them to your advantage by following the guided trail of important milestones outlined in this article to help you take your business to the next level at a pace you feel comfortable with.

Freelancing and carbon accounting

As pharma companies strive for carbon neutrality, carbon accounting is now part of day-to-day business; the carbon footprint for each process, each step, and each stakeholder is closely scrutinised. Freelance medical writers and communicators as business partners, vendors, and service providers within the healthcare industry will be part of this scrutiny.

Soft skills needed for freelance medical writers

Every professional needs to develop a set of hard skills and soft skills to grow and prosper in a designated field, and freelance medical writers are no exception. However, freelancing requires a unique combination of skills, given the independence and self-motivation required for continued success not just as a writer but as an entrepreneur. These skills include client communication, networking, leadership, ingenuity, problem solving, time management, and finally, optimism and resilience. Freelancers must continually strive to perfect these soft skills if they want to remain at the top of their game, achieve their goals, and maintain personal growth and professional freedom. This article will discuss these soft skills and how to optimise them for your freelance career.

The freelance medical writer and the medical writing agency: A symbiotic relationship

Community and networking activity can really help when you are a freelancer. Who do you turn to when it all gets too much? Can someone, anyone, who understands your challenges, offer a sympathetic ear and help to work out a solution? Where do clients magically appear from? Are they all lovely to work with, let alone grateful? Do you understand the contracts they ask you to sign? Have you Professional Indemnity and other insurances (do you need them anyway)? What about taxes? Do you need an accountant? Who deals with invoices (in and out) and chases money when needed? Who helps when the laptop stops working, the software needs updating, or the client imposes their own IT systems on you? Remember that training your previous employer provided – how do you stay current now? So many practical questions. Read on for inspiration and support from across the global community of freelance medical writers.

Behavioral and Exercise Intervention Lessen Severity and Impact of Fatigue in Inflammatory Rheumatic Diseases

Ms. Hoffmeister is a freelance medical writer in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania. To earn CME credit, you must read the CME articles and complete the quiz and evaluation assessment survey on the enclosed form, answering at least 70% of the quiz questions correctly. This continuing medical enduring material activity expires December 31, 2024. All authors, faculty, and staff have no relevant financial relationships with any ineligible organizations regarding this educational activity. Lippincott Continuing Medical Education Institute, Inc., is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians. Lippincott Continuing Medical Education Institute, Inc., designates this enduring material for a maximum of 1.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity. Lippincott's Bone and Joint Newsletter is an independent publication solely owned and published by Wolters Kluwer and has no affiliation with the Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery.

ChatGPT in Healthcare: Improving the Quality of Medical Writing

ChatGPT in Healthcare: Improving the Quality of Medical Writing

Landscaping the terminology of accessible language document types

There are three main types of accessible language documents that medical writers and medical publications professionals may work on. These are regulatory lay summaries, publication-associated plain language summaries (PLS), and standalone plain language summaries of publications (PLSPs). Although these document types have different purposes and audiences, they are often confused because of the similar names. Here, we outline the main differences between the three document types and present the different names used to refer to lay summaries across 58 pharmaceutical companies, totalling 22 names. We also show examples of the different literacy levels used in lay summaries and publication-associated PLS. Medical publications professionals need to be aware of the differences between these accessible language document types and the importance of being precise when discussing these. Standardisation of terminology could potentially help to avoid confusion.

How FAIR are pharma publication data?

Sharing research data increases reusability, reduces waste, supports reproducibility and promotes innovation. In medical research, sharing data also promotes transparency and access to information relevant to patient care. While important advancements have been made in data sharing by regulators, the pharmaceutical industry and academic publishers, several barriers remain. Some of these barriers stem from concerns about data privacy and patient safety, but others are related to the need for confidence in sharing, which can be improved through agreed standards and systems for reuse of research data, including the application of FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable) principles and the overarching principle of “as open as possible, as closed as necessary”. Medical writers, who are key links between the pharmaceutical and publishing industries, can contribute to making pharma publication data FAIRer. They also have an important role in educating others about the path to more findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable data.

Results of the 2021 EMWA salary and compensation survey

In 2021, EMWA members were asked to participate in a survey about their current salary and compensation. The survey included questions on some of the factors that typically influence earnings, such as education, geographic location, level of experience, and type of employer. Four hundred EMWA members responded. The aim of this article is to provide salary and compensation information for company employees and freelancers who are medical writers and communicators based on the responses of the EMWA members who completed the survey.

What piece of advice do aspiring medical writers tend to ignore?

Contributors: Bruna Landeira (author), Ivana Turek (section editor) What piece of advice do aspiring medical writers tend to ignore? - Bruna Landeira

Enabling people with disabilities: Creating accessible electronic documents

Rather than equating disability with personal identity, we can better understand disability as the consequence of disabling environments. This alternative view suggests that changing the environment can enable people with sensory, motor, and cognitive/learning impairments to participate more fully in everyday life. This view is also consistent with the goal of medical writers to be aware of their audience (i.e. their relevant abilities/skills, cultural beliefs, and knowledge base). To achieve this goal, we must strive to create electronic documents that can be perceived and understood by people with a variety of impairments. The main objectives of this article are: • to increase awareness of the difficulties caused by inaccessible electronic documents • to describe guidelines for creating accessible electronic documents • to provide resources for continuing education

Professional indemnity insurance: One of the many dilemmas of freelance medical writers

Contributors: Lucia Massi, Sara Rubio, Laura A. Kehoe (section editor) Professional indemnity insurance: One of the many dilemmas of freelance medical writers - Lucia Massi, Sara Rubio

The Future of Medical Writing: Gazing into the Crystal Ball

Over the past eight decades, the role and perceived value of what we’ve come to know as the medical writer has evolved. As the process of document production became more complicated and time-consuming, a separate group of specialists evolved to serve the role of “medical writer.” Although this role may not have been formally defined, and certainly not consistently so, this was the genesis of the professional we consider to be the medical writer. In preparing for this special topics edition of the AMWA Journal, I wanted to tap into a broad and varied spectrum of those who practice the trade of professional medical writing as well as some who collaborate with them. In eliciting thoughts, I decided to create a series of virtual panels, thus allowing for a more conversational and interactive experience among participants. What has resulted is a series of collective thoughts on where the profession is going, and which forces will shape the context within which we will ply our trade going forward. In one case, individuals formed their own “panel of one”; however, panels mostly comprised colleagues either from the same company or those who were invited because they were members of a particular professional organization (eg, the Drug Information Association (DIA)) or represented a particular viewpoint within the medical writing community.

Reflections on Working as a Medical Writer with a Disability and How Medical Writers Can Be Disability Allies

I am a firm believer that things happen for a reason, but also that good comes from talking about how things came to be the way they are. The first part of this article describes my personal journey navigating the complexities of having a disability concurrently with those of being a medical writer and from that standpoint can be considered subjective compared with the data-driven information we are used to seeing in our daily work. It is not meant to be a history on disability law or a comprehensive treatise on why people with disabilities are underemployed—other authors have covered those topics in great detail in other milieus, to incremental avail—but, rather, to raise awareness of potential challenges within the medical writing context and how navigating stakeholders’ assumptions about health circumstances can be as arduous as managing the health condition itself. The second part of this article provides practical suggestions on things the medical writing community can do to make sure their own can keep being strong contributors no matter what their circumstances are in life. It is the author’s hope that this article will represent the start of a dialogue within our community and that by sharing one story others feel comfortable sharing their own.

Technology to Further Medical Writing: Status and Future Vision

The panel members respond to questions that have been raised during sessions on different developments in using technology in medical writing. Medical writing is a profession dedicated to transforming data and analyses into useful and digestible information, whether that information involves regulatory applications or documents for the public and, specifically, patients. Decisions about treatments or granting of approvals depend on the distillation being accurate, clear, and understandable. Using available technology well can support this goal in that it is a means for shifting a writer’s focus from what can be accomplished by artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and functions to the creation of content.

The Future of Medical Writing: A Panel of One

Of all the points in the evolution of the medical writing profession, I believe we are at the pinnacle of what promises to be the most exciting and biggest paradigm shift in medical writers’ roles and responsibilities. With an accompanying leap in the introduction and use of technology in ways we have only dreamt of until now, this is a huge opportunity for all of us. However, it will also require medical writers to expand and hone their already extensive skill sets, and for their managers to embrace new technology and empower their teams to really grow and flourish into their new roles. For those forward-thinking companies, the rewards—including increased job satisfaction, faster and more effective submissions and approvals, increased general public engagement, and productivity from their teams—promise to be significant.

What About the Audience?

Information may be provided to a broader range of consumers. No longer will results of studies be limited to regulators and scientific/medical cognoscenti. With greater access to posted documents on a variety of portals, the public will seek and access information that is important for informed decision-making. The patient will have a stronger voice in determining their treatment, and this will extend to end-of-life decisions. Social media will amplify results and will spread misinterpretations and poor-quality data. Caveat emptor! Contributors include: Samuel Entwisle, PhD, Medical Writer, Center for Information and Study on Clinical Research Participation (CISCRP), Boston, MA Zack Fey, BS, Medical Writer, Center for Information and Study on Clinical Research Participation (CISCRP), Boston, MA

The 5 Most Commonly Misused Words in Medical Writing (According to an Editor)

“A word after a word after a word is power.” – Margaret Atwood Words are powerful. They may deceptively look like simple little strings of letters, but they hold the tremendous power of influence. The words we choose—and where we place them—influence thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. Clear words support clear thinking. And clear writing and clear thinking go hand in hand. Yet, some writers will throw words on the page, hoping that readers will “get the idea.” But when you use words that are ambiguous, inaccurate, or imprecise, you encourage ambiguous, inaccurate, and imprecise thinking. This carelessness can cause death by a thousand cuts—each word misuse can chip away at the clarity and credibility of the work. This chipping away can involve any one of the hundreds of thousands of words in the English language. But as a professional editor, I have noticed 5 words that are most commonly misused in medical writing: utilize, increase, level, while, and comprise.

Globalization and the Future of Medical Writing

Medical writers play a key role in global regulatory submissions across the pharmaceutical industry. Before the COVID pandemic, many companies were working toward development of global regulatory submissions, with their medical writers playing a key role in this process. During the pandemic, the need for greater collaboration in fully remote working conditions, inclusion and transparency, and the unprecedented demand for speed and quality of clinical development has brought global ways of working into even greater focus. A panel of medical writers, including department and regional heads and subject matter experts, were invited to consider how other influences on our industry may drive the evolution of medical writing yet further as a global profession in the coming years. This article summarizes the panel’s responses to 5 questions on the future direction of the profession. Contributors include: Jeannene Butler, Otsuka Pharmaceutical Development & Commercialization, Princeton, NJ Kelley Hill, Alexion, AstraZeneca Rare Disease, Boston, MA Garima Pallavi, Parexel International India Development & Commercialization Safety Services Private Limited, Bangalore, India Grishma Kanchan, Parexel International India Development & Commercialization Safety Services Private Limited, Bangalore, India Jonathan Mackinnon, Parexel International S.L., Madrid, Spain Renee Primus, Bristol Myers Squibb, Princeton, NJ Matthew Renda, Alexion, AstraZeneca Rare Disease, Boston, MA Linda Yih, Parexel International LLC Nan Wang, Bayer Healthcare Co. Ltd., Beijing, China