In recent years I have contributed book reviews to the EMWA journal. Most of these have been reviews of books related to medical writing but a few have been for works of fiction with medical or scientific relevance.
The book Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro made a big impression on me and a review I wrote was published in 2011 (TWS, volume 20, issue 4). The review is reproduced in full (spoiler alert if you read on...)
Some may be familiar with another book by this author ‘The Remains of the Day’ but the setting for this tale is very different from previous books by Kazuo Ishiguro. Set in England in the late 1990s, it is a country we know but don’t quite recognise as normal. The story is told by Kathy H, a carer reminiscing about her own life and those of friends from her much loved school Hailsham and we follow their exploits through school and beyond.
Initially we find out how the children coped with life at the school. Familiar scenes are depicted with undercurrents and a certain degree of strangeness. The children are boarders with assigned guardians and vie to have their art work selected to be viewed in the gallery. Earning tokens from the sales and exchanges that take place several times a year allows the children to make small purchases for themselves. When they become older and leave the school they move into “the Cottages” and come into contact with “veterans”. At this stage they are encouraged to attend seminars in preparation for the next part of their lives and rumours abound about what this will be.
At first, the story has the feel of an ordinary tale about young people growing up, however, as it progresses there is an undertone of things not being quite as they seem. It appears that the children know nothing about life outside and have no family or memories of life before the school. The words used in the book to describe roles the young adults are expected to undertake are words we would recognise from society today: carer, donor, completing, guardian, donations. However what becomes clear is that their meaning in the society depicted in this fictional world is entirely different from what we might expect in our own
lives.
One rumour the young people really believe is the ability to have a “deferral” if you can show you are in love; Kathy and her two close friends search desperately for a deferral. In doing so, they discover the truth about themselves. What emerges is that the children are clones designed to be used as living donors with their beloved Hailsham described as a failed experiment. They are told by one of the school founders:
“...How uncomfortable people were about your existence, their overwhelming concern was that their own children, their spouses, their parents, their friends, did not die from cancer, motor neurone disease, heart disease. So for a long time you were kept in the shadows, and people did their best not to think about you. And if they did they tried to convince themselves you weren’t really like us...”
“…we demonstrated to the world that if students were reared in humane, cultivated environments, it was possible for them to grow to be as sensitive and intelligent as any ordinary human being. Before that, all clones—or students, as we preferred to call you—existed only to supply medical science….”
In calm and pseudo-scientific terms an explanation is given as to how they came about “….when the great breakthroughs in science followed one after the other so rapidly, there wasn’t time to ask sensible questions. Suddenly there were all these new possibilities laid before us, all these new ways to cure so many incurable conditions…..people preferred to believe these organs appeared from nowhere, or at most in a kind of vacuum…”
Beyond the donation processes, where the living donor obtains “completion,” still more possibilities for harvesting useful parts are described. This is one scenario of how technology might advance to make organs and treatments for incurable disease more available to all who need it. I hope reality never imitates this fictional account.
I read this book when it was first released and I often find myself thinking back to the premise of the book and wondering if we will ever go that far. Some of the more disturbing stories that emerge about the trade in human organs can be regarded as urban myths but not all. One recent report that had wide coverage involved a teenager from China who was reported to have sold a kidney because he wanted to buy a new iPAD [1]. One thing is sure, that organ was sold on for a lot more than the cost of an iPAD.
Ask yourself: if necessary, how much would I be willing to pay for a kidney, a heart, or a liver and would I question where it had come from?
1. see http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-13647438
Sunday, 20 July 2014
Sunday, 1 June 2014
Reading Round Your Therapeutic Area
Often when you accept a medical writing job you begin the task by researching the therapeutic area concerned. This can mean a quick update to remind you of any changes, or researching for several days to try to get a feel for a new disease area. I often employ an additional method, which is effective, does not involve delving into text books, or surfing the net, and feels much less like ‘work’. Perhaps you already use it?
A while ago I found myself writing a couple of hundred very detailed case narratives for Parkinson’s disease. For large phase III studies this can involve trawling through many hundreds of pages of listings to extract key data points to populate narratives. In this instance, considering the amount of information required by the client, each narrative was taking over three hours to write, contained masses of information about drugs with unknown names, and procedures that were not familiar to me.
Writing narratives can be a very laborious exercise, and unsurprisingly deal with many negative aspects associated with a disease area. For me, to keep the task invigorating it can help to put the disease in context, not just from a scientific perspective, but also from a patient perspective.
To help me understand Parkinson’s disease from a patient’s view I began to read ‘Lucky Man: A Memoir by Michael J. Fox’ In his autobiography he deals with his career and also the discovery that he had young onset Parkinson’s disease [1].
He describes the symptoms of the disease first hand, writing, “Every time my most recent dose of Sinemet would wear off the disease presented me with a concise history of my symptoms—first the tapping of the pinkie, then the dancing hand, and within fifteen minutes or so, the whole of my left arm would be tremoring. Tremoring, actually, is too subtle a word—the tremor would start my whole arm bouncing.” This kind of detailed description brought to life the ‘increase or worsening of tremor’ written in a listing as an adverse event.
Concomitant procedures undertaken during the course of the trial were also listed and in the book he describes having to undergo ‘thalamotomy’ providing a very detailed description of exactly what the procedure involved. This was no longer just a word written in a listing, and given a definition by a medical dictionary, but a complex procedure that patients underwent in an attempt to increase their quality of life.
In 1986 when I was investigating HIV-1 for my PhD, many new scientific discoveries were being made about a recently isolated virus. There were no licensed antiretroviral treatments and the outcome for those infected with the virus was considered dire. The media was full of extreme stories concerning HIV/AIDS and any celebrities reportedly dying from the disease. During this time I saw a performance of ‘Torch Song Trilogy’ by Harvey Fierstein [2] in a West End theatre. I remember I was incredibly moved by this seminal production which allowed the public examination of how AIDS had affected the gay community during the late seventies and early eighties in a more measured and productive fashion. It had absolutely no scientific content but what it did for me was place HIV-1 into a human context.
I know I am not alone in using personal accounts to help work through medical writing tasks. Last year I was asked to review oncology literature, a task I wanted to finish as quickly as possible. Another writer also assigned to the job approached the subject differently and began to read ‘Cancer: C: Because Cowards Get Cancer Too’ by John Diamond [3]. The author had been a journalist in the UK who recorded, in his newspaper column, his battle with throat cancer. This book recounts his life, his cancer and all the treatments he underwent and has very uplifting reviews on Amazon.
In the UK in recent months there has been much discussion around the outcome of the NICE review regarding availability of new dementia treatments. For those working in this therapeutic area who want to find out more about what this harrowing disease is like to live with on a day-to-day basis, John Bayley’s memoir would be a good place to start [4]. In this book he recounts the way normal life with his wife of 45 years slips further, and further away from him as the disease tightens its grip on her brain, ultimately destroying her ability to function as a person.
Interested in the moral issues science throws at us? Why not try reading the novel by Kazuo Ishiguro: ‘Never Let Me Go’. This book will leave you thinking about the moral dilemma of human cloning and all its implications [5]. Although not to be classed as a ‘light holiday read’ I thought it was an exceptional book.
Where ‘reading round your therapeutic area’ is written from a very personal perspective, Anne Hudson Jones has written a series of academic articles on the contribution of literary narrative to medical ethics. If you would like to examine the moral and ethical issues this poses in greater detail then accessing the articles would be a pertinent place to begin [6].
Perhaps you have used this ‘tactic’ in reading round your therapeutic area? Do you have any recommendations? If so please tell…or maybe I’m just a medical writer who needs to get out more!
References:
1. Michael J. Fox. Lucky Man: A Memoir. 2003; Ebury Press; New Ed edition, UK.
2. Harvey Fierstein. Torch Song Trilogy. 1981; Gay Pr of New York, US.
3. John Diamond. C: Because Cowards Get Cancer Too. 1999; Vermilion; New Ed edition, UK.
4. John Bayley. Iris: A Memoir of Iris Murdoch. 2002; Abacus; New Ed edition, UK.
5. Kazuo Ishiguro. Never Let Me Go. 2006. Faber and Faber; New Ed edition, UK.
6. A Hudson Jones. Narrative based medicine: narrative in medical ethics. BMJ. 1999 January 23; 318(7178): 253–256. (accessed 30 May 2014: http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1114730).
Further reading:
A special issue of the The Lancet entitled ‘Medicine and Creativity’ published in December 2006 (vol 328) has an article by Anne Hudson Jones on the beneficial effects of writing about illness:
Jones AH. Essay Writing and healing. Lancet 2006;368:53- 54.
This posting is based on an article I first published in TWS, volume 16(2) 2007.
A while ago I found myself writing a couple of hundred very detailed case narratives for Parkinson’s disease. For large phase III studies this can involve trawling through many hundreds of pages of listings to extract key data points to populate narratives. In this instance, considering the amount of information required by the client, each narrative was taking over three hours to write, contained masses of information about drugs with unknown names, and procedures that were not familiar to me.
Writing narratives can be a very laborious exercise, and unsurprisingly deal with many negative aspects associated with a disease area. For me, to keep the task invigorating it can help to put the disease in context, not just from a scientific perspective, but also from a patient perspective.
To help me understand Parkinson’s disease from a patient’s view I began to read ‘Lucky Man: A Memoir by Michael J. Fox’ In his autobiography he deals with his career and also the discovery that he had young onset Parkinson’s disease [1].
He describes the symptoms of the disease first hand, writing, “Every time my most recent dose of Sinemet would wear off the disease presented me with a concise history of my symptoms—first the tapping of the pinkie, then the dancing hand, and within fifteen minutes or so, the whole of my left arm would be tremoring. Tremoring, actually, is too subtle a word—the tremor would start my whole arm bouncing.” This kind of detailed description brought to life the ‘increase or worsening of tremor’ written in a listing as an adverse event.
Concomitant procedures undertaken during the course of the trial were also listed and in the book he describes having to undergo ‘thalamotomy’ providing a very detailed description of exactly what the procedure involved. This was no longer just a word written in a listing, and given a definition by a medical dictionary, but a complex procedure that patients underwent in an attempt to increase their quality of life.
In 1986 when I was investigating HIV-1 for my PhD, many new scientific discoveries were being made about a recently isolated virus. There were no licensed antiretroviral treatments and the outcome for those infected with the virus was considered dire. The media was full of extreme stories concerning HIV/AIDS and any celebrities reportedly dying from the disease. During this time I saw a performance of ‘Torch Song Trilogy’ by Harvey Fierstein [2] in a West End theatre. I remember I was incredibly moved by this seminal production which allowed the public examination of how AIDS had affected the gay community during the late seventies and early eighties in a more measured and productive fashion. It had absolutely no scientific content but what it did for me was place HIV-1 into a human context.
I know I am not alone in using personal accounts to help work through medical writing tasks. Last year I was asked to review oncology literature, a task I wanted to finish as quickly as possible. Another writer also assigned to the job approached the subject differently and began to read ‘Cancer: C: Because Cowards Get Cancer Too’ by John Diamond [3]. The author had been a journalist in the UK who recorded, in his newspaper column, his battle with throat cancer. This book recounts his life, his cancer and all the treatments he underwent and has very uplifting reviews on Amazon.
In the UK in recent months there has been much discussion around the outcome of the NICE review regarding availability of new dementia treatments. For those working in this therapeutic area who want to find out more about what this harrowing disease is like to live with on a day-to-day basis, John Bayley’s memoir would be a good place to start [4]. In this book he recounts the way normal life with his wife of 45 years slips further, and further away from him as the disease tightens its grip on her brain, ultimately destroying her ability to function as a person.
Interested in the moral issues science throws at us? Why not try reading the novel by Kazuo Ishiguro: ‘Never Let Me Go’. This book will leave you thinking about the moral dilemma of human cloning and all its implications [5]. Although not to be classed as a ‘light holiday read’ I thought it was an exceptional book.
Where ‘reading round your therapeutic area’ is written from a very personal perspective, Anne Hudson Jones has written a series of academic articles on the contribution of literary narrative to medical ethics. If you would like to examine the moral and ethical issues this poses in greater detail then accessing the articles would be a pertinent place to begin [6].
Perhaps you have used this ‘tactic’ in reading round your therapeutic area? Do you have any recommendations? If so please tell…or maybe I’m just a medical writer who needs to get out more!
References:
1. Michael J. Fox. Lucky Man: A Memoir. 2003; Ebury Press; New Ed edition, UK.
2. Harvey Fierstein. Torch Song Trilogy. 1981; Gay Pr of New York, US.
3. John Diamond. C: Because Cowards Get Cancer Too. 1999; Vermilion; New Ed edition, UK.
4. John Bayley. Iris: A Memoir of Iris Murdoch. 2002; Abacus; New Ed edition, UK.
5. Kazuo Ishiguro. Never Let Me Go. 2006. Faber and Faber; New Ed edition, UK.
6. A Hudson Jones. Narrative based medicine: narrative in medical ethics. BMJ. 1999 January 23; 318(7178): 253–256. (accessed 30 May 2014: http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1114730).
Further reading:
A special issue of the The Lancet entitled ‘Medicine and Creativity’ published in December 2006 (vol 328) has an article by Anne Hudson Jones on the beneficial effects of writing about illness:
Jones AH. Essay Writing and healing. Lancet 2006;368:53- 54.
This posting is based on an article I first published in TWS, volume 16(2) 2007.
Friday, 2 May 2014
Broad-Spectrum Medical Writer: Nature or Nurture?
Most medical writers working as an employee of a company receive their salary to write either regulatory, or medical communications documents. Rarely in larger pharmaceutical companies are medical writers encouraged, or even allowed, to write for both areas. Medical writers normally end up classed as either a regulatory writer or a medical communications writer and find it quite difficult to change direction after working in their chosen area for any length of time. I don’t believe this is because they are unable to write different types of documents, but more because they are regarded by others as a resource able to function only within one of these designated areas.
Why should this be? When we write for either milieu we present the same information in a scientifically and medically accurate way, and use the same information sources. We are merely presenting the information in a different way and specifically for the target audience. Once a writer gains experience in one area of medical writing it is wrongly assumed by many that adapting style to suit a different audience is not possible. An experienced medical writer adapts their writing style to suit the intended audience. For example the same language cannot apply in both a regulatory submission and an information sheet informing patients about the medicine they will be taking. The patient information leaflet is a regulatory document but uses a very different style of writing from other regulatory documents, so what are you classed as when you write these specialised documents?
As a freelancer, I write for both audiences. Over the years I have come to think of medical writing as a ‘spectrum’(see Figure below). In my mind, my medical writing spectrum starts from regulatory summary documents, runs through medical communications aimed at physicians and continues on to patient information and medical journalism. It begins to fade as we reach this point and peters out with medical journalism and branding. According to experience and background, other medical writers will start and finish on different parts of the spectrum.
When you become a freelancer you leave behind line managers who determine whether you can write certain types of documents. Gradually the type of medical writing you take on broadens, and whether by accident or design, you become what I call a ‘broad spectrum’ medical writer. Similarly, if you are working as a medical writer in a small contract research organisation I would think that exposure to different genres of medical writing is also commonplace.
As a freelancer, my medical communications work has taken various guises including book chapters, conference reports and slide kits. I have also written manuscripts for peer reviewed journals as well as abstracts and posters. Most of this material is aimed at physicians and various sectors of the medical profession with some degree of expertise. This is what I personally find easiest and probably means that I capitalise on my own educational experiences. As to style, when I step out of the regulatory environment I leave behind the stern tone of voice that I adopt for this type of writing, and as I approach abstracts, posters and newsletters I set my imaginary hat at a jaunty angle and start writing with a very different tone of voice, whilst still promoting medical and scientific accuracy.
Do all medical writers have an innate ability to write for different audiences, adapting their style of medical writing according to the intended audience, or is it a question of training and exposure to the different styles of writing?
When I became a freelancer I was principally known for my regulatory writing but over the years I have built up my experience in medical communications writing. This has been through requests from clients, and from being prepared. I began my preparations by taking EMWA workshops that did not cover topics I was already familiar with.
This expanded my knowledge base and allowed me to have the confidence to undertake the new types of work being requested by clients. I think that training is an invaluable way of increasing a medical writer’s scope. However, I also know that training budgets are one of the first areas to be affected in a ‘credit crunch’ but argue that this kind of nurturing of medical writers will pay dividends in the long run.
Freelance medical writers are expected to keep up to date with guidelines and different aspects of medical writing and usually pay for this themselves. We essentially speculate to accumulate, and in this case we are accumulating new knowledge to give our clients a better service. This should be true of all organisations, big or small.
Although I think that training plays a big part in being able to write for different audiences, I also know from talking to other writers that regulatory writing is not a style that suits everyone, even with training. So temperament must also have a part to play. For some, the thought of becoming a regulatory writer is like putting on a straight-jacket, and for others it feels like a natural extension of scientific training. I therefore think both nature and nurture makes being a broad-spectrum medical writer possible. I know I am happier being a broad-spectrum medical writer than I would be being a narrow spectrum regulatory or medical communications writer.
These are my thoughts on the ability of some medical writers to write for different audiences and not be pigeon-holed as either a regulatory or a medical communications experts. What do you think? Do you agree or disagree?
 |
| My Medical Writing Spectrum |
This posting is based on an article I first published in TWS, volume 18(1) 2009.
Friday, 11 April 2014
Turning Down Work as a Freelance Medical Writer - Not for the Faint-hearted
I have been a freelance medical writer for 14 years, and I am glad to say that things have gone from strength to strength over that time. In fact on some occasions I have been in the enviable position of having to turn clients away because I felt I had too much work.
Turning down work is not an easy judgment to make since as a freelance your first instinct is to accept all offers of work. Being freelance and waiting for work to turn up is what’s called in the UK the double-decker bus syndrome: when waiting for one, you can wait for hours (or in the case of a medical writer days or weeks) then they all come along together. When this happens, and some may disagree with me, I think it is important to think carefully before accepting all the offers that come along. I want to maintain a high standard and to deliver the required documents to customers that fulfil the brief, and on the agreed date.....in short, I want them to come back again.
Over the years I have formed a loose network with a few trusted freelance medical writing colleagues and I will recommend them if I feel I have too much work to allow me to offer the standard of service that regular clients expect. These trusted colleagues also refer work to me when they are too busy, or the work on offer is outside their normal scope and more suited to the type of writing I can offer.
I have heard other freelance medical writers say that they never turn work away. If you are truly working alone then personally I do not know how you can manage to provide all the agreed documents if they are heading for the same deadline date. Some rely on deadlines shifting to make space, but this is like planning for a spending spree, by hoping you will win the lottery.
Managing you clients, their expectations and your workload is a big part of being a freelance medical writer and should not be undervalued or ignored.
What do you think?
As a freelancer:
Would you like to have your say on this?
Do you have other means of coping with conflicting deadlines?
As a customer:
Do you appreciate it when a freelancer is honest about conflicting deadlines?
Will you be more/less likely to seek them out next time you have a writing task?
If you have a view on this subject please feel free to post a comment.
This blogpost has been adapted and updated from a short article I first published in TWS, volume 13(1) 2004 exploring the thorny subject of how to deal with too much work when you work on your own.
Turning down work is not an easy judgment to make since as a freelance your first instinct is to accept all offers of work. Being freelance and waiting for work to turn up is what’s called in the UK the double-decker bus syndrome: when waiting for one, you can wait for hours (or in the case of a medical writer days or weeks) then they all come along together. When this happens, and some may disagree with me, I think it is important to think carefully before accepting all the offers that come along. I want to maintain a high standard and to deliver the required documents to customers that fulfil the brief, and on the agreed date.....in short, I want them to come back again.
Over the years I have formed a loose network with a few trusted freelance medical writing colleagues and I will recommend them if I feel I have too much work to allow me to offer the standard of service that regular clients expect. These trusted colleagues also refer work to me when they are too busy, or the work on offer is outside their normal scope and more suited to the type of writing I can offer.
I have heard other freelance medical writers say that they never turn work away. If you are truly working alone then personally I do not know how you can manage to provide all the agreed documents if they are heading for the same deadline date. Some rely on deadlines shifting to make space, but this is like planning for a spending spree, by hoping you will win the lottery.
Managing you clients, their expectations and your workload is a big part of being a freelance medical writer and should not be undervalued or ignored.
What do you think?
As a freelancer:
Would you like to have your say on this?
Do you have other means of coping with conflicting deadlines?
As a customer:
Do you appreciate it when a freelancer is honest about conflicting deadlines?
Will you be more/less likely to seek them out next time you have a writing task?
If you have a view on this subject please feel free to post a comment.
This blogpost has been adapted and updated from a short article I first published in TWS, volume 13(1) 2004 exploring the thorny subject of how to deal with too much work when you work on your own.
Friday, 21 March 2014
Twitterview with EMWA
On 14 March 2014 I was the twitterviewee of a twitterview organised by the European Medical Writers Association (EMWA).
What is a twitterview?
A twitterview is an interview that takes place over Twitter in real time.
How did the twitterview work?
Using Twitter, EMWA posted a number of questions about medical writing that I answered using a 140 character limit.
Julie Chaccour, a member of EMWA social media team, represented @official_EMWA. @official_EMWA asked the questions and I answered as @AAGMedical. Twitter users could follow the twitterview in real time using #EMWA
Abbreviations used during the tweeterview:
CSR(s): Clinical Study Report(s); EC: Executive Committee; EPDC: EMWA Professional Development Committee; IB(s): Investigator Brochure(s); MW(s): Medical Writer(s); Regs: Regulations; WS: Workshop; WSL(s): Workshop Leader(s);
The text of the twitterview:
@Official_EMWA: We are ready to start out twitterview with @AAGmedical. Follow us under #EMWA!
@Official_EMWA: Alison McIntosh @AAGMedical is an experienced medical writer who, after her PhD, completed 5 years as a postdoc in molecular virology. #EMWA
@Official_EMWA: @AAGMedical She started her medical writing career 20 years ago at GSK and has been working as a freelancer for the past 14 years. #EMWA
@Official_EMWA: @AAGMedical Her experience encompasses #regulatory-related documents (CSRs, IBs, patient narratives, ...) #EMWA
@Official_EMWA: @AAGMedical ... and medical communications (manuscripts, abstracts, posters, ...). #EMWA
@Official_EMWA: @AAGMedical is a valued EMWA workshop leader since 2001 and currently serves as member of the #EMWA Professional Development Committee.
@Official_EMWA: @AAGMedical Alison is also a section editor of the #EMWA journal MEW.
@Official_EMWA: @AAGmedical Hello and good morning, Alison. How are you today? #EMWA
@AAGmedical: @Official_EMWA I'm well and looking forward to the twitterview. Sunny here in Loughborough #emwa
@Official_EMWA: @AAGmedical Fantastic! Happy to hear. Let's begin with our first question. #EMWA
@AAGmedical: @Official_EMWA ok #emwa
@Official_EMWA: @AAGMedical A new medical writer asks: How do I get the most out of attending my first #EMWA conference?
@AAGmedical: @Official_EMWA Sign up to WSs, do pre, post WS homework, participate in class exercises. Network and talk to others in breaks & enjoy #EMWA
@Official_EMWA: @AAGMedical What would you recommend a new medical writer on how to get experience? #EMWA
@AAGmedical: @Official_EMWA Become a trainee MW. Use workplace training courses and mentoring. Attend #EMWA conferences & take relevant introductory WSs.
@Official_EMWA: @AAGMedical Is training a never-ending task for medical writers? #EMWA
@AAGmedical: @Official_EMWA Absolutely. Must keep up to date with regs & guidelines and be aware of any changes. True for regulatory & medcomms #EMWA
@Official_EMWA: @AAGMedical How many workshops are on offer at each #EMWA conference?
@AAGmedical: @Official_EMWA Up to 56 at Spring #EMWA conference and about 40 at Autumn. All for credit. Varying nos of other noncredit WS also offered.
@Official_EMWA: @AAGMedical Being a European organisation, why are all #EMWA workshops centered on English. MW is also done in many other languages.
@AAGmedical: @Official_EMWA Not sure of history. My thoughts:US/EU regdocs in Eng+most #emwa attendees write Eng or translate Eng into other languages…
@AAGmedical: @Official_EMWA ….also universal language of science considered Eng #EMWA
@Official_EMWA: @AAGMedical Which measures does the EPDC implement to ensure quality and interest of workshops? #EMWA
@AAGmedical: @Official_EMWA At each conf EPDC reviews every feedback form re comments & ratings. Concerns followed up with WS leader and addressed #EMWA…
@AAGmedical: @Official_EMWA WS leader also reviews & receives copy of forms. These forms are vital and why we always ask you to fill them in!! #EMWA…
@AAGmedical: @Official_EMWA New WSs are always mentored and observed at conference #EMWA
@Official_EMWA: @AAGMedical How often are older #EMWA workshops reviewed and updated?
@AAGmedical: @Official_EMWA They should be kept up to date by WSL. Personally I check all links & review content etc before presenting my own WSs #EMWA…
@AAGmedical: @Official_EMWA Topics no longer relevant are removed from the programme #EMWA
@Official_EMWA: @AAGMedical Who can be a 'workshop leader'? Can non-members participate in training?
@AAGmedical: @Official_EMWA Majority of WSLs #EMWA members with relevant experience of topic they teach. New WS proposals submitted & considered by EPDC.
@Official_EMWA: @AAGMedical Some workshops tend to fill up quite fast. Why not to offer them twice during the same #EMWA Conference?
@AAGmedical: @Official_EMWA All WSL are volunteers & many give >1 WS already. No guarantee that will fill 2 WSs on the same topic at 1 #EMWA conference.
@Official_EMWA: @AAGMedical #EMWA is very well-known for training at Conferences. How will the association cope with eLearning demand in the near future?
@AAGmedical: @Official_EMWA This is separate from EPDC and I believe #EMWA EC is looking into eLearning at the moment. I do not have details.
@Official_EMWA: @AAGMedical What would the ‘cons’ of eLearning be as compared to conference workshops? #EMWA
@AAGmedical: @Official_EMWA Depends on the eLearning model #EMWA adopts. I don’t have info on exact approach being considered. Time for EC update?
@Official_EMWA: @AAGMedical Which is the most popular #EMWA workshop ever? Why?
@AAGmedical: @Official_EMWA Several #EMWA WS widely applicable & always popular. They fill up fast & that’s why need to register early to get full choice.
@Official_EMWA: @AAGMedical Which are the least attended #EMWA workshops? Why?
@AAGmedical: @Official_EMWA As with other conferences, at #EMWA the WSs in last morning session are harder to fill ‘cause of attendee travel arrangements.
@Official_EMWA: @AAGMedical After leading an #EMWA workshop, what makes you think ‘That went well’?
@AAGmedical: @Official_EMWA Usually when there has been a lot of good interaction and people leave still talking about what was covered in my WS #emwa
@Official_EMWA: @AAGMedical How do you relax after a busy day or after a busy week?
@AAGmedical: @Official_EMWA Walk dog, go to cinema or theatre, mainly read a good book, preferably fiction & currently H Mantel Bring up the Bodies #emwa
@Official_EMWA: Thank you, Alison @AAGMedical for answering our questions. Thank you all for following. We hope you enjoyed this #EMWA twitterview.
@AAGmedical: @Official_EMWA Thanks for asking me to do twitterview and to all who submitted these great questions #emwa
@Official_EMWA: @AAGMedical In case you have missed it, you will be able to find a complete transcript on www.emwa.org soon!
What is a twitterview?
A twitterview is an interview that takes place over Twitter in real time.
How did the twitterview work?
Using Twitter, EMWA posted a number of questions about medical writing that I answered using a 140 character limit.
Julie Chaccour, a member of EMWA social media team, represented @official_EMWA. @official_EMWA asked the questions and I answered as @AAGMedical. Twitter users could follow the twitterview in real time using #EMWA
Abbreviations used during the tweeterview:
CSR(s): Clinical Study Report(s); EC: Executive Committee; EPDC: EMWA Professional Development Committee; IB(s): Investigator Brochure(s); MW(s): Medical Writer(s); Regs: Regulations; WS: Workshop; WSL(s): Workshop Leader(s);
The text of the twitterview:
@Official_EMWA: We are ready to start out twitterview with @AAGmedical. Follow us under #EMWA!
@Official_EMWA: Alison McIntosh @AAGMedical is an experienced medical writer who, after her PhD, completed 5 years as a postdoc in molecular virology. #EMWA
@Official_EMWA: @AAGMedical She started her medical writing career 20 years ago at GSK and has been working as a freelancer for the past 14 years. #EMWA
@Official_EMWA: @AAGMedical Her experience encompasses #regulatory-related documents (CSRs, IBs, patient narratives, ...) #EMWA
@Official_EMWA: @AAGMedical ... and medical communications (manuscripts, abstracts, posters, ...). #EMWA
@Official_EMWA: @AAGMedical is a valued EMWA workshop leader since 2001 and currently serves as member of the #EMWA Professional Development Committee.
@Official_EMWA: @AAGMedical Alison is also a section editor of the #EMWA journal MEW.
@Official_EMWA: @AAGmedical Hello and good morning, Alison. How are you today? #EMWA
@AAGmedical: @Official_EMWA I'm well and looking forward to the twitterview. Sunny here in Loughborough #emwa
@Official_EMWA: @AAGmedical Fantastic! Happy to hear. Let's begin with our first question. #EMWA
@AAGmedical: @Official_EMWA ok #emwa
@Official_EMWA: @AAGMedical A new medical writer asks: How do I get the most out of attending my first #EMWA conference?
@AAGmedical: @Official_EMWA Sign up to WSs, do pre, post WS homework, participate in class exercises. Network and talk to others in breaks & enjoy #EMWA
@Official_EMWA: @AAGMedical What would you recommend a new medical writer on how to get experience? #EMWA
@AAGmedical: @Official_EMWA Become a trainee MW. Use workplace training courses and mentoring. Attend #EMWA conferences & take relevant introductory WSs.
@Official_EMWA: @AAGMedical Is training a never-ending task for medical writers? #EMWA
@AAGmedical: @Official_EMWA Absolutely. Must keep up to date with regs & guidelines and be aware of any changes. True for regulatory & medcomms #EMWA
@Official_EMWA: @AAGMedical How many workshops are on offer at each #EMWA conference?
@AAGmedical: @Official_EMWA Up to 56 at Spring #EMWA conference and about 40 at Autumn. All for credit. Varying nos of other noncredit WS also offered.
@Official_EMWA: @AAGMedical Being a European organisation, why are all #EMWA workshops centered on English. MW is also done in many other languages.
@AAGmedical: @Official_EMWA Not sure of history. My thoughts:US/EU regdocs in Eng+most #emwa attendees write Eng or translate Eng into other languages…
@AAGmedical: @Official_EMWA ….also universal language of science considered Eng #EMWA
@Official_EMWA: @AAGMedical Which measures does the EPDC implement to ensure quality and interest of workshops? #EMWA
@AAGmedical: @Official_EMWA At each conf EPDC reviews every feedback form re comments & ratings. Concerns followed up with WS leader and addressed #EMWA…
@AAGmedical: @Official_EMWA WS leader also reviews & receives copy of forms. These forms are vital and why we always ask you to fill them in!! #EMWA…
@AAGmedical: @Official_EMWA New WSs are always mentored and observed at conference #EMWA
@Official_EMWA: @AAGMedical How often are older #EMWA workshops reviewed and updated?
@AAGmedical: @Official_EMWA They should be kept up to date by WSL. Personally I check all links & review content etc before presenting my own WSs #EMWA…
@AAGmedical: @Official_EMWA Topics no longer relevant are removed from the programme #EMWA
@Official_EMWA: @AAGMedical Who can be a 'workshop leader'? Can non-members participate in training?
@AAGmedical: @Official_EMWA Majority of WSLs #EMWA members with relevant experience of topic they teach. New WS proposals submitted & considered by EPDC.
@Official_EMWA: @AAGMedical Some workshops tend to fill up quite fast. Why not to offer them twice during the same #EMWA Conference?
@AAGmedical: @Official_EMWA All WSL are volunteers & many give >1 WS already. No guarantee that will fill 2 WSs on the same topic at 1 #EMWA conference.
@Official_EMWA: @AAGMedical #EMWA is very well-known for training at Conferences. How will the association cope with eLearning demand in the near future?
@AAGmedical: @Official_EMWA This is separate from EPDC and I believe #EMWA EC is looking into eLearning at the moment. I do not have details.
@Official_EMWA: @AAGMedical What would the ‘cons’ of eLearning be as compared to conference workshops? #EMWA
@AAGmedical: @Official_EMWA Depends on the eLearning model #EMWA adopts. I don’t have info on exact approach being considered. Time for EC update?
@Official_EMWA: @AAGMedical Which is the most popular #EMWA workshop ever? Why?
@AAGmedical: @Official_EMWA Several #EMWA WS widely applicable & always popular. They fill up fast & that’s why need to register early to get full choice.
@Official_EMWA: @AAGMedical Which are the least attended #EMWA workshops? Why?
@AAGmedical: @Official_EMWA As with other conferences, at #EMWA the WSs in last morning session are harder to fill ‘cause of attendee travel arrangements.
@Official_EMWA: @AAGMedical After leading an #EMWA workshop, what makes you think ‘That went well’?
@AAGmedical: @Official_EMWA Usually when there has been a lot of good interaction and people leave still talking about what was covered in my WS #emwa
@Official_EMWA: @AAGMedical How do you relax after a busy day or after a busy week?
@AAGmedical: @Official_EMWA Walk dog, go to cinema or theatre, mainly read a good book, preferably fiction & currently H Mantel Bring up the Bodies #emwa
@Official_EMWA: Thank you, Alison @AAGMedical for answering our questions. Thank you all for following. We hope you enjoyed this #EMWA twitterview.
@AAGmedical: @Official_EMWA Thanks for asking me to do twitterview and to all who submitted these great questions #emwa
@Official_EMWA: @AAGMedical In case you have missed it, you will be able to find a complete transcript on www.emwa.org soon!
Thursday, 13 February 2014
Beginning Your First Draft: Turtle or Rabbit?
As a writer do you describe yourself as a turtle or rabbit? Intrigued? Read on to find out what this statement actually refers to.
The suggested descriptions refers to an approach to writing that builds and maintains a writer's momentum using "natural habits" in order to capitalise and make progress in a writing task. This means spending some time working out which approach to writing that first draft is best for your personality.
Two types of writer are described by Michael Alley [1]. You can decide which category best fits you – a rabbit or a turtle?
A rabbit he suggests hates first drafts: "In a first draft, they sprint; they write down everything and anything…rabbits strap themselves to the chair and will not get up for anything. Rabbits finish drafts quickly, but their early drafts are horrendous, many times not much better than their outlines. Nonetheless they've got something. They've got their ideas on paper, and they're in a position to revise."
On the other hand a turtle is the opposite: "A turtle tries not to write down a sentence unless it's perfect. In the first sitting, a turtle begins with one sentence and slowly builds on that sentence with another, then another. In the second sitting, a turtle…revises everything from the first sitting before adding on. It usually takes a turtle several sittings to finish a first draft, but the first draft is strong…the beginning and the middle are usually very tight because they've been reworked so many times. Revision usually entails smoothing the ending as well as checking the overall structure."
If you have turtle tendencies Alley suggests starting with the sections you feel most comfortable writing and for many this will be the methods section, whereas a rabbit type will begin at the beginning and work through each section to the end.
When I wrote my PhD thesis I was certainly a turtle. The emphasis for this task was very definitely on writing because I used a pen and paper during the day to complete the sections, transcribing only the finished text onto the computer at night. For those of you too young to remember, back in 1989 this was cutting edge technology! When I started my first job as a medical writer I soon realised that with tight timelines I couldn't continue to write as a "turtle". So now my writing style combines a bit of "rabbit" with "turtle". I suspect that few medical writers fit strictly into one or other category. Depending on the time available and client requirements a mix of both types will emerge and as deadlines approach rabbit tendencies might be what's most required!
References:
1. Alley M (1987). The craft of Scientific Writing. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall (pages 195-196)
The content has been adapted from an article that I first published in TWS 14(4)2005.
The suggested descriptions refers to an approach to writing that builds and maintains a writer's momentum using "natural habits" in order to capitalise and make progress in a writing task. This means spending some time working out which approach to writing that first draft is best for your personality.
Two types of writer are described by Michael Alley [1]. You can decide which category best fits you – a rabbit or a turtle?
A rabbit he suggests hates first drafts: "In a first draft, they sprint; they write down everything and anything…rabbits strap themselves to the chair and will not get up for anything. Rabbits finish drafts quickly, but their early drafts are horrendous, many times not much better than their outlines. Nonetheless they've got something. They've got their ideas on paper, and they're in a position to revise."
On the other hand a turtle is the opposite: "A turtle tries not to write down a sentence unless it's perfect. In the first sitting, a turtle begins with one sentence and slowly builds on that sentence with another, then another. In the second sitting, a turtle…revises everything from the first sitting before adding on. It usually takes a turtle several sittings to finish a first draft, but the first draft is strong…the beginning and the middle are usually very tight because they've been reworked so many times. Revision usually entails smoothing the ending as well as checking the overall structure."
If you have turtle tendencies Alley suggests starting with the sections you feel most comfortable writing and for many this will be the methods section, whereas a rabbit type will begin at the beginning and work through each section to the end.
When I wrote my PhD thesis I was certainly a turtle. The emphasis for this task was very definitely on writing because I used a pen and paper during the day to complete the sections, transcribing only the finished text onto the computer at night. For those of you too young to remember, back in 1989 this was cutting edge technology! When I started my first job as a medical writer I soon realised that with tight timelines I couldn't continue to write as a "turtle". So now my writing style combines a bit of "rabbit" with "turtle". I suspect that few medical writers fit strictly into one or other category. Depending on the time available and client requirements a mix of both types will emerge and as deadlines approach rabbit tendencies might be what's most required!
References:
1. Alley M (1987). The craft of Scientific Writing. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall (pages 195-196)
The content has been adapted from an article that I first published in TWS 14(4)2005.
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