Medical Technical Writing
FAQ on Technical Writing
When I read an article called Types of Technical Documents by ClickHelp, I found many interesting things like nurses, for example, can also be considered technical writers because they should record a detailed history of a patient’s past illnesses, chronic conditions, treatments, medications, surgeries, therapies, and hospitalizations. This type of documents is called medical records.
Moreover, typical technical documentation types like user guides, manuals are also created in this sphere to help medical personnel use new pieces of equipment correctly.
So, I thought that it would be interesting for you to learn more about medical writing, education, salaries, and the like. That’s why I decided to share this information here.
What Medical Technical Writing is
Medical technical writing is a broad field, it implies writing a wide range of medicine- and healthcare-related documents, including articles, marketing copy, and educational materials. Those professionals who write such a content called medical technical writers. Some medical technical writers are writing for a professional audience, others focus their writings on the educated layman.
Education
Medical technical writers come from a wide variety of educational backgrounds. So it’s not obligatory to have a medical background. Some people are physicians or other medical professionals who were interested in medicine and found their niche in medical writing. Others have formal education in medicine or science who have picked up a technical education doing research on the job. So, if you have a degree in journalism, it may be enough to become a member of a medical technical writing team.
Required Basic Qualifications
Of course, basic qualifications depend on a company but they are more or less unique:
- Education and/or experience equivalent to a Bachelors’ Degree in the medical, biological, physical or engineering disciplines and three years of medical writing experience.
- Knowledge of regulatory requirements relative to Clinical Evaluation Reports.
- Experienced in searching medical literature and databases for clinical and technical information.
- Ability to read, analyze, and interpret regulations, technical standards, guidance documents, test reports, clinical and medical terminology, technical product information and complex documents.
- Effective written and verbal communication skills in the area of technical/clinical applications.
Where You Can Find a Job
According to the American Medical Writers Association, medical technical writers at the following organizations: academic medical centers, hospitals, health care professional associations, disease associations, contract research organizations, charitable and medical foundations, biotech firms, medical device businesses, health information technology companies, and hospital systems, HMOs and managed care organizations, medical education and publishing companies, pharmaceutical companies, physician groups, medical advertising and marketing agencies, and a wide range of healthcare-related websites.
Salary
According to Glassdoor, the medical technical writer salary is the following:
