What does a medical writer do?
Medical writing is a term that encompasses a wide range of tasks from journalism and blogging through to writing highly specialised regulatory submissions for approval of a new drug or medical device. Very few medical writers cover the entire spectrum of medical writing, most specialise in a subset.
Other terms for medical writing include medical communications, medical journalism, scientific writing, health writing and health communications.
All medical writers have one thing in common – their aim is to communicate complex medical research and information in a clear, accurate and professional manner.
I have created an infographic below that outlines the type of projects medical writers may work on. You can download a copy here too: Infographic: types of medical writing. You can see the enormous range of writing that is covered by the one job description.
In my 8 years as a medical writer I have worked for clients on many jobs and projects from each of the categories shown in the infographic:
- Clinical & regulatory medical writing
- Medical communications
- Academic medical writing
- Medical publishing and education
- Medical journalism
However, the majority of my work tends to fall into the middle three categories. One of my favourite things about being a medical writer is the variety of project-based jobs on offer. It is great to be able to mix the very serious and detail oriented side of medical writing with the lighter and more conversational side. After all, variety is the spice of life!
Want to learn more? There is an excellent career guide about becoming a medical writer available here.
If you would like to find out more about how a medical writer can assist you with your next project, please call me for a chat on (+61) 0415 569926 or email me at ruth@mediwrite.com.au.
