Are you looking for a career pivot from the world of research to medical writing?
Many of the skills you already possess as a nonclinical or biomedical researcher are essential to advance in the growing field of medical communication.
What does it take to make the move into this ever-changing and rewarding career?
To succeed as a medical communicator, writers and editors must master essential technical skills such as grammar, medical terminology, and statistics. However, medical communicators who excel offer more than technical expertise.
So much of our lives is connected online these days, and freelance medical communicators are using tools that allow collaboration with colleagues around the world.
This level of connectivity requires attention to cybersecurity to make sure data and key information are accessed only by people who are authorized to see them. As a medical communicator, what can you do to protect yourself, your personal data, and your clients’ critical information from cyberattacks?
Are you a regulatory medical writer who is concerned about proving your mettle?
Regulatory medical writers play a critical role in the drug development and approval processes. Yet their role is often misunderstood and undervalued.
Are you taking time for self-care?
Medical communicators need to take care of their minds, bodies, and souls to avoid burnout and health issues.
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.
Freelancing allows medical writers to take command of their careers by establishing and managing their own businesses. Owning a freelance medical writing or editing business empowers you to set your rates and schedule. As a freelancer, you’ll experience an equal mix of freedom and responsibility.
In Entrepreneur’s May 2020 article “What You Can Learn from Freelancers Right Now,” journalist John Boitnott outlined why freelancers are equipped with the best tools and practices for high‑quality, productive remote work.
This article is based on content presented by Katherine Molnar‑Kimber, PhD, Kimnar Group LLC, and Deborah Anderson, PhD, DGA Medical Communications, at the AMWA Medical Writing & Communication Conference.
For freelance writers and independent contractors, establishing long‑term client relationships has clear advantages. Working with long‑term clients reduces time spent on administrative tasks, such as marketing, acquiring resources, and learning new formats, which increases the time available for producing the deliverable. The stability provided by long‑term clients also improves peace of mind and is usually financially beneficial.
This article is based on content presented by Laura J. Ninger, ELS, at the AMWA Medical Writing & Communication Conference.
True or false:
Well-trained medical communicators bring value to the teams with whom they work.
I hope you answered true because that’s the right answer.
The key adjective of course is well-trained.
This article is based on content written by Kelly Schrank, MA, ELS, and presented by John West Hadley at the AMWA Medical Writing & Communication Conference. It was originally published in the AMWA Journal.
Making sure you move ahead in your medical writing career calls for finding opportunities to create visibility for your skills and achievements and presenting yourself and your work in the best light. This means showcasing your value not only to potential new employers and clients, but also to your current employer in order to justify your salary and position yourself for advancement.
A structured and systematic approach can be effective, starting with these three steps.
This article was originally published in the AMWA Journal.
All of us have suffered the consequences of expensive, unasked questions in both our professional lives and our personal lives. As medical communicators, we must ask good questions to elicit information, but many of us lack adequate training in this skill. Add to that the natural reticence of some medical communicators, and it is no wonder that we walk away from interviews with subject matter experts or client meetings wishing we had remembered to ask X, Y, or Z. This article offers information as to why questions are so important, what types of questions are useful, how to strategize your questions, how to handle people answering the questions you ask them, and how to answer questions that others ask you.
It's fun to look back over the years and think about fashion trends that probably never should have seen the light of day. I’m thinking mullets, shoulder pads, and why not throw in bell bottoms while I’m at it.
Although fashion trends come and go, trends in medical communication usually point toward practices that are here to stay. We can’t afford to ignore industry trends if we want to remain fresh and relevant. Whether we are employees or freelances, we never want to become stale, and staying on top of business trends should be part of our jobs.
Writing and editing go hand-in-hand to create a masterpiece. A well-written article is like a fine piece of jewelry. Think of the content as the design of the jewelry and the editing as the polish. Just as a ring without polish looks like a piece of lackluster metal with a potentially beautiful gem, a poorly edited article loses its charm even if the content is strong.
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
Here are some tips for addressing the challenges of managing a remote medical communication team.