Medical Writing
2 Important Ways to Steer Your Readers
There are many times when while writing a procedure you’ll have to steer a reader in one direction or another. There are two types of steering instructions in technical writing: A REFERENCE and a BRANCH statement. And both can be either CONDITIONAL or UNCONDITIONAL. I’ll give examples of each. Unconditional Reference See Chapter 8, “How to Install RX450.” (Within the same book.) Return to Chapter…
Read MoreD.A.R.T Macros for Pharmaceutical and Regulatory Technical Writing with MS Word
The D.A.R.T.(Document Authoring and Readiness Tool) system of integrated MS Word macros does not offer any “structural authoring” functionality like some other Word macro systems do. For example, in my own field, “single s ourcing” is an important feature that saves untold hours by generating different deliverables from the same single source file. However, D.A.R.T. provides formidable standardization for text,…
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Digitization of Doctor-Patient Communications and the Prospects for Technical Writers
Introduction The digitization of Doctor-Patient communications is a major trend in the healthcare industry. It has been predicted that digital interactions will overtake traditional forms of communication in the years ahead. This development is largely due to the rise of smartphones and other mobile devices which make it easier for patients and doctors to share…
Read MorePlain Writing for Medical Insurance Policies — A Growth Field for Technical Writers
Introduction Without plain writing, medical insurance policies can be torture to read and understand. Example Please read the following description of “Primary Care Health Program” and see if you can understand anything: ——————————————————————- “The following rules determine which is the “primary” program: a) If the other program is not primarily a dental program, this program…
Read MoreA Great New Career for Nurses – Medical Writing and Illustration
There is now a great career for Nurses — medical writing and illustration. Say you’re a nurse. An RN. A highly-trained and capable health care professional. And again, say you’re a bit sick and tired of the hustle and bustle of a hospital… Yes, the pay is good but there are nerve wrecking responsibilities. You’re…
Read MoreHow to Shift from a Career in Pharmaceutical Sales to Medical Writing
A reader wrote asking what to do and in which direction to go in shifting from a career in pharmaceutical sales to writing. I’m sharing my answer here since it may benefit all my other readers who also find themselves in a similar situation: “The fact that you’re coming from sales should be a positive…
Read MoreFacts About Medical Transcriptionists
Introduction A medical transcriptionist writes Medical Transcriptions (MT) which is a technical communication niche in high demand, in all countries with a well-established medical and judicial system. Market Needs a Medical Transcriptionist Whether the population is getting old as in Western countries or young, as in the rest of the world, the doctors need to…
Read MoreAmerican Medical Writers Association
If you are a technical writer specializing on medical and pharmaceutical copy you might consider becoming a member of the American Medical Writers Association (AMWA). They’re about to hold their annual conference down in Dallas, TX on October 22nd. Here are some of the AMWA membership benefits: * Career development at all expertise levels *…
Read MoreMedical Writing – A Great Specialty for Technical Communicators
© Ugur Akinci Medical writing is a lucrative field for technical and copy writers alike. It’s one of those niches where these two genres overlap considerably since medical writing requires both technical knowledge and the skills of a good copy writer. Legendary copy writer Bob Bly says this is how much he charges for some…
Read MoreTechnical Writer Salaries in UNITED STATES
An interesting compilation of Technical Writer Salaries in UNITED STATES, with a graph Medical Writer Salaries in UNITED STATES Copy Writer Salaries in UNITED STATES
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