I can’t have been the only one who at some point during my eight-thousandth step up to the ward on the top floor has thought to myself “I’m done. I’m leaving this place. I’m booking a one-way ticket out of here.” followed by a pathetic attempt to reenact the life of Robinson Crusoe.
Just me?
Fair enough. But I can’t have been the only person who wanted this thing called work-life balance which we see so carelessly thrown about across various forms of social media without true meaning. Work-life balance as a medic simply meant that on a given day, you probably had time to head to the gym after work because you weren’t as exhausted. It’s not exactly the luxurious life falsely portrayed by the wonderful cast of Grey’s Anatomy, but I’ve found a way out - medical writing.
Search Medical Writing Courses
What is Medical Writing?
Medical writing is what we creatives call “the art of science”. In other words, it’s the process of distilling complicated medical jargon into easily palatable language tailored to a specific audience.
Types of Medical Writing
There are many different types of medical writing that one can pursue. These include, but are not limited to:
Medical Education
If you’ve ever Googled your symptoms and clicked on a link that takes you to an article which describes your symptoms and convinces you that you’re probably on the verge of imminent death, then you have a basic understanding of what one aspect of medical education writing is. This style of writing is otherwise known as patient-facing-content writing (not officially, just literally). Its premise is to educate the public about various diseases and, when possible, signposting to appropriate help should that be necessary.
Medical writing in education can also be physician-facing. Continuing Medical Education (CME) is the activities which medical professionals undergo to keep up to date with the latest advances in compliance, regulations, and developing areas in their field. As a CME writer, you could be asked to summarise various topics aimed at healthcare professionals in the form of articles, brochures, slide decks, and much, much more.
Medical Copywriting
Those probiotics you take every day were chosen for a reason, with that reason being the branding was on point (or they were the cheapest in the shop). Medical copywriting is the skill you can thank for convincing you to make that purchase. Medical copywriters research medical data attributed to a product, service, or establishment offering a service, and translate said data into language that’s accessible to the public.
Regulatory Medical Writing
If you’re to watch television in the United States of America or New Zealand, you’d probably come across an advert for a prescription drug that highlights how wonderful that drug is. In all other countries in the world, direct advertising of prescription drugs to the public is illegal.
Medical writers working in healthcare marketing have to abide by several regulatory boards (think of them as the GMC of medical writing) when producing such material for pharmaceutical companies. Regulatory writing roles involve the making of promotional documents for pharma products, such as leaflets, articles, and sales aids that go out to healthcare professionals (those presentations brought upon you by a pharmaceutical sales rep amidst your overpopulated waiting room). Regulatory roles can also be in-house which include curating necessary clinical trial protocol documents and standard operating procedures to facilitate clinical processes.
There’s a whole world of medical writing out there with far more careers than the three mentioned above. It’s up to you to research the various aspects to see which one resonates best with the style of writing you wish to pursue. For example, medical journalism is another path you may want to peek into.
Medical writing is also a career which can be pursued remotely, giving you the option to travel across the world as either a digital nomad or on "working holidays". It might be something that you can pursue at the same time as performing a low-workload job (such as working on an oil rig).
