Teaching medical writing
Teaching medical writing involves agreeing what a course can achieve, understanding the participants and defining its scope with the organiser. Scientific-writing instruction develops communication skills that are distinct from learning English.
Demand and teaching competence
Many medical writers become scientific- or medical-writing teachers without training or systematic guidance in education, developing courses and teaching styles themselves. Teachers commonly come from scientific or linguistic backgrounds rather than education, while growth in the profession creates a need for accredited training and systematic teaching methods.
Scientists rarely receive formal scientific-writing instruction. One study found that academic scientists rated effective grant and publication writing as their highest career-development need regardless of gender, rank or department; another found that only about 22% of emergency physicians interested in academic careers rated their medical-writing training good or excellent. Institutions have employed science editors to teach seminars, workshops and formal courses as well as edit documents, and the University of California, San Francisco’s science-writing course was often wait-listed.
Clear, well-constructed publications help maintain scientific-literature standards, advance individual careers and build institutional reputations, making effective training important as the literature grows. Course design calls for the same care promoted in writing: subject knowledge, research, guideline consultation, content planning and attention to detail.
Scientific writing and English teaching
A short scientific-writing workshop cannot realistically improve participants’ command of English: sessions lasting at most three days, often only half a day and with up to 20 participants, allow insufficient meaningful exchange for language teaching. Some grammar pointers can be given, but the focus should be manuscript structure rather than language acquisition. Logically organised articles are easier to understand and their language is easier for an editor to improve.
Scientific communication should be taught as a subject in its own right, preferably within training on research method and conduct, with English taught separately because scientific-writing specialists are not necessarily language teachers. Sector-specific language classes taught through vocabulary lists, grammar and manuals may concentrate on language rather than strategies that make experienced professionals autonomous writers.
The organiser may have only a vague understanding of participants’ needs, so the distinction between English tuition and scientific-writing training in English may need an initial phone conversation followed by a written programme and approach. Participants should be screened for enough English to follow the facilitator. If discussion shifts into a local language, an English summary helps the facilitator mediate and familiarises participants with the topic’s vocabulary.
Organisers, objectives and audience
Institutions commissioning scientific-communication workshops commonly seek higher publication rates, while some want to introduce researchers and clinicians to publishing.
Before preparing content, trainers should obtain a full briefing, get to know the organisers, remain in contact during development and request necessary facilities; logistics and content may have different owners. A prepared question list helps ensure the necessary information is obtained even when a preliminary site visit is impractical.
Objectives should be written down and confirmed by email rather than left as a verbal brief. Reviewing them when a course is repeated helps prevent objectives creep. Audience research should establish existing knowledge, gaps, experience and the level of information needed.
PhD students writing theses, laboratory scientists preparing posters, clinicians writing papers and professional medical writers developing skills start from different levels and require different approaches. No single ideal course suits all of them; each course needs to be tailored to participants’ needs and keep them interested and involved.
Planning and agreement
Reusing a course is cheaper and easier, but information and examples relevant to participants’ daily work are more useful than generic material. Preparation can take longer than delivery, so time should be allowed for an outline, slides, handouts, exercises or games, and rehearsal.
A detailed outline should give every element a time allocation, show the flow of ideas and specify learning objectives for each activity. Discussing it with the client clarifies expectations; agreement from the content lead and relevant student bodies or line managers should precede course development. The outline can also act as the delivery agenda, limiting overruns and helping finish on time.
Published evidence on teaching
A search covering March 2018–February 2019 found six articles on teaching medical writing among 109 free-full-text English PubMed records on writing or medical writers, restricted to humans and excluding case reports: three offered writing advice and three evaluated programmes or interventions. Those articles came from institutions in different countries and appeared across medical and scientific journals. Periodic PubMed searches can identify relevant writing-teaching material.