Building a Health-Literate Society [Communication Strategies]

Health literacy is important for improving people’s long-term health and quality of life. In an ideal society, health literacy would be high and people would regularly take preventative measures to protect their health, manage chronic conditions, and have better health outcomes.

10 Best Practices for Managing a Remote Team

In medical communication, as in other fields, it’s increasingly common for team members to be scattered across the country or around the globe. It’s important for managers to have the skills needed to make their remote teams successful—no matter where employees are located. Managers of remote medical communication teams face challenges including

• Retaining valuable team members in the face of global competition
• Ensuring that expectations are met on both sides of the working relationship
• Keeping a remote team up to date on trends and changes in your field
• Having the information needed to report to your superiors 
• Obtaining the technology needed for remote team success 

Here are some tips for addressing the challenges of managing a remote medical communication team.

Advantages of a Medical Writing Certificate

A medical writing career requires being a lifelong learner and networker.

To begin working in the field, medical writers need specialized skills and knowledge to obtain jobs. Advancing in the field means constantly building on that base. In addition, professional connections are helpful in the beginning of your career and in order to advance.

Curing the Outbreak of Medical Misinformation

While fake political news has dominated the headlines over the past few years, the proliferation of science denial and misinformation about health and medicine has also caused widespread concern. Most notable is the misleading or false information on social media about the perceived dangers of childhood vaccines. Recently, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared vaccine hesitancy to be one of the 10 greatest global threats to human health in 2019.

Despite valid data showing that vaccines are one of the most cost-effective ways to control childhood diseases, the safety of vaccines has been questioned since research in the late 1990s showed a link between the MMR vaccine and autism; the research was proved to be fraudulent, but the damaged reputation continued. With the rise of the “anti-vaxxer movement,” many medical and scientific groups have galvanized over the past year to combat the threat of anti-vaccination to global public health. 

Reinvigorate Yourself, Professionally and Personally

For most medical communicators (and humans), time is one of our most valuable resources. When I think about whether to attend a professional conference, I have to consider its value. Who am I going to meet? What am I going to learn? How will this conference bring value to my business and career? I think we should also add another question to this assessment list: Will this experience reinvigorate my passion for my work? Will this time add to my personal development?

How To Become a Medical Writer

For as long as people have been reading about health and medicine, there have been medical writers writing about it. Medical writers communicate important knowledge about diseases and treatments to a variety of stakeholder audiences ranging from healthcare professionals and regulatory authorities to sales representatives, payers, patients and caregivers, and more. Medical writers clarify the complex, make scientific information accessible for the intended audiences, and empower people across the spectrum of healthcare to make informed decisions. Before you can even begin thinking about a career in medical writing, you need to know what medical writers do, where they work, and the variety of documents they produce.