5 Tips for Being an Excellent Health Communication Specialist

To work in health communication, you need both detailed knowledge about health care and marketing and the ability to manage a variety of editorial and writing tasks.

Whether you’re starting out in health communication or considering a shift from another type of medical communication or medical writing, these tips can help you succeed.

6 Steps to Writing Health Content That Moves People

This article is based on content presented by Debbie Dakins and  Colleen Cronin, at the AMWA Medical Writing & Communication Conference. It was originally published in the AMWA Journal.

You’ve heard the phrase “Put words into action”? Well that, my friends, is what I’m going to attempt to do here. In this recap of the 2016 AMWA conference presentation “Six Steps to Writing Content That Moves People,” I will try to apply what I learned from Debbie Dakins and Colleen Cronin’s tips to help writers create informational materials for the general public that can inspire and motivate people to make changes to improve their health and wellbeing.

The Medical Writer’s Role in Promoting Shared Decision Making

This article is based on content presented by Kathi Whitman, MA, at the AMWA Medical Writing & Communication Conference. It was originally published in the AMWA Journal.

Imagine your loved one has been newly diagnosed with a chronic disease such as end-stage renal disease, breast cancer, or obstructive sleep apnea. Owing to the stressful diagnosis, your loved one may have trouble taking in new information and choosing among numerous treatment options within a limited time. Can your medical writing skills help this difficult process?

3 Questions to Ask Yourself When Writing for Lay Audiences

As medical writers, the heart of our work is to convey information to a specific audience. Writing for patients, we are trusted with interpreting highly technical information to educate, protect, enable, and empower our readers. The result of poor understanding can be directly harmful to health. However, successfully informing patients leads to better health outcomes, including more preventative care and fewer hospitalizations.

In this post I offer 3 questions that will help you use plain language effectively and successfully when writing for lay audiences.

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.