Do I Need Permission? Understanding “Fair Use” in Medical Communication

Copyright law is complicated, and we’re not legal experts.

However, one of the most important aspects of copyright law as it pertains to medical communicators is called “fair use.”

In general, copyright protects the intellectual property of creators like artists and authors, but there is an important exception made when material is used for educational purposes or for other reasons that distinguish it from a profit-generating use.

Medical Sales Training and Beyond

Product training—or medical sales training—is an essential ingredient in bringing new medical devices and pharmaceutical products to market.

Pharmaceutical, biotech, and medical device companies spend enormous amounts of time and money implementing medical sales training when launching new products or when products are approved for new indications. Creating medical sales training materials is a growing opportunity for medical communicators who can leverage their skills and experience to help bring better products to healthcare providers and patients.

5 Steps to Defining Your Role as a Medical Writer

Those in the medical writing and editing field know that job responsibilities vary widely. 

Regardless of the job description, medical communicators have unique scientific and professional skill sets that can be used in a multitude of ways. However, medical communicators sometimes find themselves in situations where they are expected to do more than is possible. Perhaps a colleague or client expects a level of support that is beyond the scope of the medical writer’s job description.

Right and Wrong: Medical Communication Ethics

Ethical behavior is important in any profession. 

Medical Editing Checklist: An Essential Tool for Success

Checklists are popular these days. And for good reason. 

Ever since surgeon and author Atul Gawande published The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right  in 2009, checklists have proliferated in many fields, and revolutionized the way we conduct business and practice medicine.

Dr Leana Wen Named 2022 Walter C. Alvarez Recipient

The American Medical Writers Association (AMWA) has selected Leana Wen, MD, MSc, FAAEM, an emergency physician, public health professor at George Washington University, and nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, as the 2022 Walter C. Alvarez Award Recipient. This award recognizes excellence in communicating health care developments and concepts to the public and is named after Walter C. Alvarez, MD, a pioneer in the field of medical communication.

Wen’s career has focused on public health as a fundamental force in our individual lives and well-being. Previously, she served as Baltimore’s Health Commissioner, where she led the nation’s oldest continuously operating health department in the United States to fight the opioid epidemic, treat violence and racism as public health issues, and improve maternal and child health. She directed the public health recovery efforts of Baltimore after the 2015 riots, working to ensure access to prescription medication after pharmacy closures and working to develop the city’s mental health and trauma recovery plan with crisis counseling, youth health and wellness, and violence prevention programs. As she states in her memoir, Lifelines, “Public health saved your life today―you just don’t know it.”