So, you want to be a medical writer...

If it’s not writing the leaflet that goes inside medication – what IS medical writing? 

If we turn to a higher power, e.g. Wikipedia…

 

                        ….well that’s much clearer. Or not.

At the Nature Jobs Careers Fayre 2013, I spoke to EnvisionPharma and Oxford PharmaGenesis about the details of medical writing and I've also squeezed info out of friends via facebook and the like. They were generally enthusiastic about their jobs and had worked on writing the 'copy' (pointless word for 'words') in many varied types of project.

Projects included:

- Leaflets for doctors (to explain a prescription regime for a particular medication),

- Whole books on a particular disease

- Papers describing a pharmaceutical company’s or biotech’s clinical trials.

- Information for patients who are taking part in clinical trials

- Congress reports
- Posters

So it seems like there are a lot of ways to ‘medically' write and I think it can take some time to find your 'niche'. For example, even if you decide you like medical writing, you may well change project types if you find you're better at manuscripts than patient leaflets.

What kind of skills do you need?

If you go in as a Junior, then there is a lot of training provided on the job, so don't worry if this is not something you're formally 'qualified' for. For example, taken directly from a vacancy as a Junior Medical Writer at Envision Pharma, I've added some comments in red...

As a medical writer you will need:

— To demonstrate sound scientific understanding and analytical skills
    as you will be required to explain complex concepts and data to a
    wide and varied audience

By the time you’ve graduated, and then carried out your PhD (and possibly PostDoc) you’ve probably had ample opportunity to discuss your work with people and know if you’re any good at it.

— To work independently to research, write, edit, and proof copy to the
    highest scientific and editorial standards across a diverse range of
    educational materials including abstracts, posters, manuscripts, and
    slide kits

For me, I know I can do all of this, but I’m not really a fan of the rigmorale that is manuscripts – would I be employed to continually write othe people’s manuscripts. Forever.(?)

— To be able to manage your time effectively, enabling you to work on
    multiple projects and meet deadlines

If you've managed a lab and/or your research pretty independently, you'll be fine with this.

— A professional and enthusiastic approach to working with both clients
    and physicians

I’d be happy, nay ecstatic, to find some genuine enthusiasm in the workplace

— To be an ‘advanced’ user of Datavision™

No idea what this was – a bit of research reveals it to be a bit of planning software. To be honest, I don’t think they’d expect you to know how to use this when you start, probably something you’d learn whilst there.

If you have graduated with a science degree (preferably a PhD), enjoy writing and have an exceptional eye for detail, and ideally have previous experience in medical writing and editing, please contact us….

Day to day...

A good friend who is now a medical writer gave me a description of what her work entails when writing 'patient recruitment documentation' - information for patients and doctors taking part in a study. I'll try and do her justice here...(any mistakes are my own!)

1. A project is allocated to you based on your experience by your project manager.

2. Timelines and key information to include are provided by the project manager (this normally takes place in a meeting involving other team members). For this area of work the timelines are normally short, i.e. 3-4 weeks rather than months.

3. Read the clinical trial protocol, do any background reading and formulate the information.

4. Written work is checked by a senior medical writer.

5. Material is finalised and sent to the editorial team.

6. Liase with the editorial team to answer questions and fill in any gaps.

7. Document is sent to the client for review.

8. After a few rounds of review (1-3), the word files are then sent to be 'prettified' by a 'source team'.

9. Pictures are added, layout is perfected etc.. As a writer you may be able to request appropriate imagery which is found by the source team and then added.

10. The finished piece goes for a final client review which can involve more, usually minor, changes.

11. Print and distribute.

Anything given to patients must be reviewed by an 'independent review board' who ensure that the materials are not 'promoting' the study and this can add time to the process. There are lots of rules governing patient and public-facing material.

The overall process of deadlines, writing and review by the customer appears similar for most types of documents. However, how and where you get that information from and the guidelines you must follow vary substantially from document to document. For example, for a publication on a clinical trial, a report of all the data is usually received by the medical writer in the first instance. They then contact the author(s) by phone or e-mail to define key points that need to be made. The drafts are compiled and edited internally before being sent to the authors for approval - This usually happens several times before submission to a journal, just like the rounds of drafting (and redrafting) we do with our own manuscripts, I expect. Clinical trial publications have their own set of strict guidelines about full disclosure and author contributions.

There's also promotional writing around a particular medication and researching the market in order to be able to do this - it appears that there is a lot of 'reading around' required in order to be a good medical writer. As a result, medical writers learn a lot about the disease area or trial that they are working on, but, of course, carry out very little science themselves. This could perhaps be a drawback for people who like to be on the ‘business-end’ of the work but I’ve been told it’s very rewarding to turn often incomprehensible data and facts into readable, digestable text. 

Depending on the company and job, it seems that although there’s a lot made of the team-atmosphere,  you are largely working on your own document that you refer to a senior member of staff for 'proofing'. The job appears to be quite flexible and 'family-friendly' - as it is desk-based you should be able to work from home occasionally or adapt your hours to suit your home life, if needs be.

A few quotes (positive and negative) from our medical writing colleagues...

- I am learning lots of different things all the time about therapy areas and the industry in general, and generally speaking I find it less stressful than the lab!

- I would definitely recommend the line of work though, overall it is pretty rewarding.

- ...sometimes feel that it is not 'scientific' enough.

- Sitting at a desk all day is...one of the downsides of the job.

- It definitely wasn't an easy decision to leave the lab, but I don't have any regrets now!

For information on how to start a career in 'medcomms' (as the cool kids call it) try NetworkPharma and MedComms Networking where you can find lots of information on how to get started in medical writing such as a free careers guide, career days and job ads. The site seems to be heavily involved with a recruitment agency called Carys Mills who can be a great help in finding the elusive first post, I've been told. There's also the comprehensive (and more formal) European Medical Writers Association website with details on jobs, conferences and even their own journal. 

As with most jobs nowadays, this appears to be a competitive market but it is actively seeking new skilled people. So, have at it!