When you explore the world of medical writing, you may wonder, among many other things, what a medical writing job description is. What does the role mean? Does it matter what kind of medical writer you want to be? With so many options, how do you know which one is right for you? The truth is that medical writing is a broad field with many entry points. Prospective medical writers can feel a little lost when figuring out their ideal role.
The job descriptions and responsibilities tend to veer in different directions, making it difficult to see where one job ends, and another begins. So, you first need to understand what an actual medical writer does before determining which one best fits your interests, skillset, and ambitions.
This article aims to delve into the nitty-gritty of what it means to be a medical writer, which roles you might have as an individual, and whether or not you should make this your career path.
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In this article – the medical writing job description
- What does a medical writer do
- The roles in medical writing?
- Types of medical writers
- The pros and cons of becoming a medical writer
- Should you become a medical writer?
- The road to success in medical writing
A medical writing job description: What does a medical writer do?
The most basic definition of medical writing is creating written materials, like reports, articles, and manuals. The main goal of a medical writer is to facilitate communication between patients, providers, and everyone in the healthcare chain.
Therefore, the job of a medical writer is to create content for different purposes, such as instructions for clinical procedures, research papers, and marketing content. Most medical writers have a strong foundation in the sciences, like biology, anatomy, and physiology.
The bottom line is that a medical writer’s most important asset is their deep understanding of their work. This way, they can communicate complicated information in an easy-to-follow format that people of all levels of education can understand.
Research and writing
Research and writing are the bread and butter of medical writing. You’ll find them in every medical writing job description. The foundation for any type of medical writing is research. Every article, pamphlet, or resource your write will be heavily dependent on facts and figures from credible sources. You may specialize in a specific area of research, such as studying the efficacy of a certain drug or be more general and responsible for researching a wide range of topics related to health. In any type of medical writing, you’ll need to follow an information lifecycle and source everything you write.
This will include conducting primary and secondary research, depending on the type of content you’re creating. Primary research refers to brand-new data collected by researchers specifically for your project. Secondary research involves reviewing data that has already been collected and published. This type of information is readily available online or in print.
Creating marketing materials
Marketing materials are useful in bringing attention to a product or concept. If a pharmaceutical company is launching a new migraine medication, for example, that marketing team will need to create materials to promote it to both physicians and the public. This may include a company news release, a PowerPoint for sales reps to use in talking with doctors, and infographics or videos for the public.
A medical writer working in marketing may be responsible for creating all these different types of content. In some cases, a single writer may be responsible for writing a news release, creating a presentation for sales reps, and creating infographics for the web.
Note that not all medical writing job descriptions include the creation of marketing materials.
Developing educational content
Some medical writing job descriptions, especially in continuing medical education, include the development of educational materials.
Education materials are usually intended for training purposes. To give a few examples, nurses may be trained on best practices for administering injections or pharmacists may be trained on how to properly fill a prescription. In both of these examples, the trainer would need some type of instructional material to show the trainees how to properly do the task. This may include reading materials, videos, interactive tools, or other formats. A medical writer working in training content may also be responsible for creating and editing pre-existing materials.
Creating content for continuing medical education for health professionals
Health professionals often need to earn continuing medical education (CME) credits to maintain their licenses. This may include medical doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and other medical professionals. CME resources help these professionals stay up-to-date on new practice guidelines and understand new treatments. Stakeholders, including major pharmaceutical companies, medical device manufacturers, and other organizations, often create these resources. As a medical writer, you may need to write this type of content for a client.
What are the roles in medical writing?
Depending on your speciality, a medical writing job description may fall into one of the following categories:
1. Copywriter – Copywriters are in charge of writing marketing materials like press releases, sales letters, and advertisements. You’ll mostly find this position in agencies.
2. Medical editor – Editors take written works and edit for clarity, flow, and grammar. They ensure everything is accurate and up to the publisher’s standards. Editors work with both authors and copywriters.
3. Medical writer – Medical writers create all of the above, as well as reports and articles. They are responsible for the entire lifecycle of a written work, from ideation to publication.
4. Medical communications specialist – These specialists write and design content specifically for healthcare providers, like doctors, nurses, and pharmacists. The goal is to enhance the usability of their materials, such as protocols, instructions, and policies.
5. Medical communications director – The directors oversee the communication lifecycle of an organisation, including communications and marketing.
6. Medical communications manager – Managers are responsible for overseeing the work and workflow of an entire department.
7. Content strategist – A content strategist creates and manages an organisation’s content strategy, like websites and blogs.
8 – Copy content strategist – This job falls under the content strategist category, explicitly focusing on content.
Which type of medical writer are you?
As you’ve seen in the section above, many types of medical writers exist, and the medical writing job description varies. The next step is to determine who you are. If you don’t know, there are a few questions you can ask yourself.
What did you study in school? – If you majored in biology, anatomy, or any other science-based discipline, you may be well-suited to the role of biomedical writer. You may also want to explore becoming a technical writer if you studied one of the engineering disciplines.
If you are interested in writing research papers, you are a researcher. You can become a medical communications specialist if you specialise in creating content for healthcare providers.
How do you envision your career trajectory? If you want to remain in the research and writing field but also have a leadership role, you may want to explore becoming a medical communications director or manager.
The pros and cons of becoming a medical writer
This section will explore some of the benefits and drawbacks of becoming a medical writer. While every job has its pros and cons, this is especially true for the world of medical writing.
Medical communication comprises a wide range of subfields and specialisations as an industry. With so many options available, it can be challenging to know where to start. The best way is to understand the pros and cons of each type of medical writing.
The pros of becoming a medical writer
Variety – Medical writers have numerous roles, each with specific expertise. No two days are ever the same, making the career quite diverse. There will always be something new to learn, and you’ll never get bored.
Workload – Since you’ll be working across many projects and teams, you can control your workload to a certain extent. If a task is particularly challenging, you can focus on your core responsibilities and ignore the rest.
Income – Medical writing is a lucrative industry, with the average annual salary at around $74,000. That’s the median wage; the top 10% of earners make over $110,000 yearly.
The cons of becoming a medical writer
Lack of creative control
While most medical writing roles have creative elements, you’ll never have complete creative control as you would as a novelist or screenwriter. In each project you work on, stakeholders will ensure that you complete everything according to their standards.
Should you become a medical writer?
If you’ve read this article from start to finish, you now know much about what it means to be a medical writer. You know what roles exist, what they do, and their pros and cons. Now, it’s time to ask yourself a final question: Do you want to become a medical writer? There should be nothing stopping you from taking the plunge if you like the job’s description and believe you’d be good at it.
The best thing you can do is to research schools and programs that offer medical writing degrees and certifications. Not only will they teach you the ropes, but they’ll help you find an employer when you graduate.
The road to success in medical writing
You may be asking yourself, what leads to success in medical writing? To be honest, becoming a medical writer isn’t a walk in the park. It’s a challenging and competitive career that requires you to be at the top of your game. If you want to be successful in this field, here are a few things you should keep in mind :
1. Start writing early- You don’t need a job to start writing, and you shouldn’t actually. Writing is a fantastic way to develop your skills and learn about various writing disciplines and styles. Additionally, it’s an excellent way to build recognition for yourself.
2. Join writing communities – Online communities are great places to meet people with similar interests. You can meet potential mentors, find out about potential job opportunities, and establish yourself as an authority in the field.
Learn more success tips in medical writing.
Bottom line
The medical writing job description is straightforward. This article is definitely not exhaustive. If you would like to explore a career in writing for the medical or healthcare industry, you can expect to be responsible for creating and editing written content related to diseases, treatments, and patient care. This information is for a wide range of audiences, from patients to health professionals.
In order to break into this field, you should have at least a degree in a related field, such as biomedical sciences, communications or journalism, and gain experience working in the field. You can begin by volunteering or interning at local healthcare organizations to get your foot in the door.
Conclusion
There are numerous distinct categories of medical writers, each with specific duties and responsibilities that involve juggling multiple projects and teams. Thus, a medical writing job description may differ. Finding the one that best suits your interests, abilities, and aspirations becomes much simpler once you have a firm grasp of the fundamentals.
If you’re thinking about a career in medical writing, it is critical to understand what a medical writer does and the available roles.
