Who should take medical writing courses? Medical writing courses are not just for medical writers and editors. Technical writers and freelance writers transitioning into the health care industry are more likely to be hired if they have these courses on their resumes. Health care professionals and researchers who want to publish research or an article in a medical journal should consider such courses. Journalists assigned to health care topics or beats can improve their credibility and writing with a medical writing course. Other career paths that involve medical writing include medical marketers or public relations specialists, patient educators, administrative professionals in the pharmaceutical or medical technology industries, legal professionals specializing in health care litigation, medical educators and medical newsletter writers.
The American Medical Writers Association offers medical writing courses in the form of educational sessions, on-site workshops and self-study courses. Combine these medical writing courses to earn medical writing certifications, such as "Essential Skills," "Business," Composition and Publication," "Concepts in Science and Medicine" and Regulatory and Research."
Every year AMWA hosts a three-day conference during which participants attend over 100 educational sessions. Additional opportunities to attend supplemental workshops towards a medical writing certification occur regularly throughout the year at various AMWA chapter-sponsored conferences.
You can also purchase self-study medical writing courses from the AMWA website. These courses incorporate a workbook and CD-ROM and come with a test for those working towards the certification.
Several universities offer on-site medical writing courses, which vary in length. The University of Chicago, for example, offers classes lasting from one to three days. Participants may take just one or a few courses to fulfill a professional need. The other option is to earn enough credits for a basic or advanced certificate. University medical writing courses range in difficulty. Most offer an introduction to medical writing and/or medical editing. Once you complete the basic courses, you can take the more advanced courses. Some courses are specific to research, organization or statistics. Still others are offered for more specific fields. For example, the University of Chicago offers classes on pharmaceutical writing, preparing an investigational new drug application, developing patient educational material and interpreting clinical study reports, among others.
Other third-party organizations also offer medical writing courses. For example, the MedBio Medical Writing Institute offers a certification program consisting of 14 medical writing courses. Additionally, the Drug Information Association offers a medical communications certificate for medical communications professionals who communicate drug information to the public. You can participate in just one or two modules of the curriculum that interest you without registering for the full certificate program.