To begin with let me clarify who is a medical writer or a health communicator. These writers write, edit or generate written material related to medicine and health. For this, they research, collect, sort and organise, interpret and present information in a way which is easily understood by its target audience.
The role of a Medical Writer
A Medical Communicator or writer as a professional plays the role of;
- Writer
- Editors
- Proofreaders
- Journalists
- Project Manager
- Multimedia Producers
- Public relations specialist
- Publishers
- Educators
- Researchers
- Translators
Some Medical Communicators also do the job of marketing or corporate communications.
Where can a Health Writer get a job?
Medical writers or communicators work in a number of areas. These areas are;
- Pharmaceutical industries-involved in the research, development and manufacturing of drugs, biotechnological products and medical devices.
- Agencies such as CRO’s (Contract Research Organisation), Medical education companies which develop educational programs for doctors, pharmacist, nurses and other health care providers, medical communication and advertising or public relations.
- Health care centers including University medical centers, hospitals or health care systems and managed care organisations.
- Non profit organisations
- Medical publishers such as journals, textbooks, web sites and patient education
What do you write?
As a Medical Communicator you are expected to research, read, organise, interpret and compile;
- Journal articles
- Abstracts, posters, and slide presentations for scientific meetings
- Grant proposals
- Chapters for medical text books
- Regulatory documents about investigational new drug (IND) documents, new drug application (NDA) submissions, reports of clinical trials etc.
- Sales training material
- Materials for lay audiences and patients in the form of magazine, newspaper, web articles, brochures, books and other educational materials.
With this background it is clear that not all Medical Communicators are alike. There are two types of medical writers, scientific medical writers and marketing medical writers.
Scientific health communicators have an advanced medical degree and extensive writing experience of scientific papers for journals. The projects that these writers handle are journal abstracts, journal articles, physician speeches, medical education materials, regulatory documents, internet or web content etc.
Marketing health writers focus on marketing. The jobs or projects handled by these writers are advertising copy, articles, internet content, proposal writing, training manuals, medical script writing, magazine articles, newsletters etc.
In the end no matter what kind of projects or writing assignments you handle as a medical communicator or medical writer, your ultimate goal is to present an accurate medical information, informative content and easily understandable.
Immobilienmakler Heidelberg Makler HeidelbergSource by Pooja S Banerjee