A Crash Course in Medical Writing for Health Profession Students

2008

As noted in the preface of The Complete Guide to Medical Writing, medical writing is becoming recognized as a unique skill that must be developed. It should not be assumed that a university education in a medical field creates a proficient writer. All of the section authors stress that the written word be clear, concise, and accurate, particularly when used to communicate medical information. This book presents medical writing guidance in an informal and entertaining manner, sometimes using real-world examples. Most of the 6 sections are by authors who write for British audiences. Thus, the tone of the book, recommended references, and style suggestions are most relevant to medical writers in those countries. The Complete Guide to Medical Writing covers a wide variety of topics pertinent to a medical writer. This book is written in a casual, brief, and condensed format and as such, the information is provided at a level of detail below that sought by most advanced writers. Sections ...

American journal of surgery, 2016

Publishing clinical and research work for dissemination is a critical part of the academic process. Learning how to write an effective manuscript should be a goal for medical students and residents who hope to participate in publishing. While there are a number of existing texts that address how to write a manuscript, there are fewer guides that are specifically targeted towards surgery trainees. This review aims to direct and hopefully encourage surgery trainees to successfully navigate the process of converting ideas into a publication that ultimately helps understanding and improves the care of patients.

Acta Med Indones, 2007

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

Although scientific publication is often mandatory in medical professions, writing the first research article for publication is challenging, especially as medical curricula have only a minor focus on scientific writing. The aim was therefore to identify facilitators and barriers experienced by medical doctors writing their first scientific article for publication. An explorative inductive approach made use of semi-structured interviews for collecting data until saturation. Data were analyzed with systematic text condensation. Several barriers were identified: (a) writing in general; (b) writing in English; (c) dealing with content, structure, and presentation; and (d) navigating in the author group. Good supervision in the initial writing phase was a facilitating factor. Medical doctors requested a course in which they could work on their own articles and give feedback to fellow students. They valued skilled lecturers and individual supervision, and they wanted to learn about autho...

Microsurgery, 2012

Research & Innovation in Anesthesia, 2017

Background Medical writing is an important component of any research starting with writing a research protocol up to its culmination into presentations and publications. In spite of numerous mandatory academic projects being undertaken in India, the research output in peer-reviewed journals remains low. Lack of proficiency in medical writing has been cited as one of the important causes for same. We conducted a pre- and post-continued medical education (CME) multiple choice questions (MCQs) questionnaire test to assess the baseline knowledge of the participants in this field and observe their improvement after the CME. Materials and methods 210 medical students and faculty from various medical disciplines participated in the workshop. Responses to a 15 item validated MCQs questionnaire under various headings such as literature search, spectrum of formats, statistics, references and reporting were collected from the participants of the CME. Results 40.48% of the participants responde...

Biologia Futura, 2021

Scientific writing is an important skill in both academia and clinical practice. The skills for writing a strong scientific paper are necessary for researchers (comprising academic staff and health-care professionals). The process of a scientific research will be completed by reporting the obtained results in the form of a strong scholarly publication. Therefore, an insufficiency in scientific writing skills may lead to consequential rejections. This feature results in undesirable impact for their academic careers, promotions and credits. Although there are different types of papers, the original article is normally the outcome of experimental/epidemiological research. On the one hand, scientific writing is part of the curricula for many medical programs. On the other hand, not every physician may have adequate knowledge on formulating research results for publication adequately. Hence, the present review aimed to introduce the details of creating a strong original article for publi...

2009 IEEE International Professional Communication Conference, 2009

As a result of the increasing number of engineered medical devices, from joint replacements to pacemakers to oxygen concentrators and CPAPs (continuous positive airway pressure devices), coming onto the market, there is a need for writers to write pre-and post-surgical procedures for patients, materials to train physicians in using the equipment, and documents for regulatory agencies.

Indian Journal of Private Psychiatry, 2021

Many journals and other published guidelines provide large, sometimes strict instructions to be included for becoming eligible in academic journals. However, there is a lack of simple and clear recommendations on how to write such scientific articles. We propose a simple and easy-to-follow hypothesis-based approach. The introduction section should start by introducing the relevant concepts, formulate the study hypothesis, mention the gap in knowledge in the existing literature, and describing the study hypothesis in simple language at the end. The material and methods section must describe the study design, sample or material, the tools, instruments, inclusion and exclusion criteria, and procedures used to test the study hypothesis. The results section must describe the data analyses that lead to the confirmation or rejection of the hypothesis. The discussion must state whether the study hypothesis has been confirmed or rejected and compare the study result with previous research. It should clarify the limitations of the study and explore the relevance of the study findings for clinical practice and future research. An abstract at the beginning of the manuscript, usually structured with objectives, material and methods, results and conclusion, should be added. Acknowledgments, ethical approval, informed consent by study subjects, conflicts of interests by authors, and a reference list will be needed in most scientific journals.

One of the key priorities of a scholarly teacher is to demonstrate the ability to contribute to the advancement of knowledge, and transformation of new knowledge into applications that can be of value to the profession and the teaching/learning community. However, successful contribution to a scholarly activity such as publication is challenging particularly when academics lack confidence in their writing skills.