“Reliable medical writers are worth their weight in gold.” Really?

Yes, really.

As intermediaries between the medical establishment and regular folks, medical writers serve a vital function. Just some of the reasons they are valuable include:

Accuracy

Medical information is technical and complex. A good medical writer can transform this complexity into clear language for diverse audiences, from healthcare professionals to patients.

You can’t put a price tag on accuracy. The wrong information is unhealthy to say the least.

Public Health Communication

Think about the covid pandemic. In a crisis like that, there is a pressing need for clear, factual writing. What is the real medical consensus about mask-wearing? How does the disease spread? Who is most, and least, at risk? How can you protect yourself?

Reliable medical writers can communicate the information people need the most when they need it the most.

Patient safety

Information such as medication instructions are written by medical writers, and such writing needs to be accurate and easy to understand.

Clear instructions lead to healthy patients. Badly written instructions lead to, at best, confusion, and at worst, disaster.

Regulatory Compliance

In pharmaceutical and medical device industries, documentation must meet strict regulatory standards. It takes a careful, detail-oriented writer to meet those standards.

Skilled medical writers ensure that clinical trial reports, drug applications, and other documents comply with all requirements.

Digital Health

With the rise of telemedicine and health apps, clear medical writing is crucial for creating user-friendly interfaces and patient education materials. These materials guide users through the app and then provide needed information. Both aspects are important.

No one wants to be at the mercy of an app that is confusing to use or full of misinformation. Medical writers help make the app and the medical information easy to digest.

Informed Consent

Clear, comprehensive informed consent documents are crucial for ethical research and treatment. Good medical writers can create these documents to ensure patients fully understand procedures and risks.

Without such clear writing, patients wouldn’t know what they’re getting into. Clear, consent-related writing protects patients.

Advancing Medical Knowledge

Medical writers who write for magazines and journals are helping spread important knowledge to a wider audience. This dissemination of ideas is vital to the ecosystem of medicine.

Doctors write articles too, but they can’t write them all. By spreading medical knowledge in a clear and accurate way, medical writers add to the pool of knowledge and do a great service to the work of doctors and researchers.

Education

Textbooks and other education materials are composed by medical writers, helping to educate the next generation of doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals.

A confusing or poorly written textbook doesn’t bode well for the doctors, and patients, of the future.

Ethical Considerations

Good medical writers understand the importance of presenting information ethically, avoiding bias, and clearly stating limitations of studies or treatments.

A writer prone to exaggeration, or with an ax to grind, isn’t going to cut it as a medical writer. A good, reliable medical writer needs a sharp mind, an unbiased point of view, and an effortless way with words.

Globalization

Medical writers can help adapt medical information for different cultural contexts and assist in translating complex medical concepts across languages. A bilingual medical writer might be worth double their weight in gold.

Such writers are vital in the current era, when the world keeps getting smaller and smaller.

Worth Their Weight in Gold? At the Very Least

In essence, medical writers are communicators, and the good ones are invaluable. They communicate information that could literally mean the difference between life and death, or between good and bad quality of life.

So value your medical writers—they deserve it.