Wait! I’m not trying to sell you anything!! It’s just another thought-provoking blog. When was the last time you have persevered to get your work done? When have you pushed yourself to pull yourself out of the unsuccessful attempts and give just one more shot?

Often we talk of perseverance and determination, to friends, younger siblings and our juniors, but how many times have we practiced what we preach? Nevertheless I’m aware of people who swear by this and in fact without their knowledge taught me too. It is not a topic that is being spoken of for the first time. If it has already been approved and stamped by so many people who seem to have time-tested it, why do we tend to overlook the tested and approved idea? 

“Whoever told you we don’t remember this and apply it?” Is that what I hear somebody saying? May be yes and I completely agree with you. In no way am I trying to portray myself on the bright side. Not long was I too playing fool with myself and giving up easily. Of course there was always “Hey I tried my best!” But no I was wrong. When I had stepped one more time towards the seemingly unachievable goal and finally scored the last attempt, had I understood that until then I have never gone this far.  

Let me explain this you in live. I had always dreamt big. Whoever says that you can’t? To me it’s the only way that even the most unfortunate person on this earth can help himself. So there I was dreaming of managing my father’s business and taking it over the next level. Of having my own business. Of being successful as a person. Oh so many … I had to start somewhere. I was 24 by then. My friends who had got into fields other medicine, usually IT had been already earning by then and for not less than 18000/month. Then I had been earning say 5000/month. Imagine my state then. I would be there wondering about the value of the medical degree I had earned.  

I then fortunately got enrolled into a clinical research course. It so happened that I was so desperately in need of a job. Not that I had to satisfy my monetary desires but to pacify my ego of having a well paying job. I was there waiting outside my institute founder’s office, for 2 hours after traveling an hour (ok that surely is not too long a time) to only tell him that I would take up any opportunity that I would be suitable for and gather experience if not paid. Hey! At least I won’t be a fresher! Once I convinced myself and reasoned about the decision I put all my best efforts and determined to win this chance.  

I had put my mentor in a very difficult position. I would plead to him with all my heart that my desperation was evident. By god’s grace I had been offered a chance and was called for an interview. The perseverance and the zeal to perform if given that opportunity earned me that job. I had been the first and the only one to be placed from my batch after merely passing the first nine months of my course. All of this I owe to the almighty for instilling that drive and spirit to go after it as if there is no tomorrow.  

Many of the times, we find ourselves whining to others about the ill-luck we are destined. Not all but the major lot of the fortunate bestowed with a good education and decent living conditions. Dear friends, it is very important that before asking for any help, we have helped ourselves to the best of our ability.  

You and only you can write and earn your destiny. Whether it is going to be sunny and bright or of shadows and dullness lies in your hands solely. If you really wanted it and believed that you deserve it then nobody can stop the success from reaching you. Yes, success chooses its destiny too. 

The only difficult part of the whole funda is working towards helping yourself. Ask yourself, “have I given my best of the best?” you will be on your way to success. 

I understand that it gives a tinge of the all-knowing type and self praise. But friends I have tried cutting off those parts and felt it doesn’t give the actual feel. If I had to share some closely guarded secrets for the good of others, I don’t mind the consequences. And I’m no different from you. It could happen to you too if you did the same. TRY ONCE AGAIN!

RD

Blog! The best thing to happen!

Blogging is just superb! It’s really a blessing for so many who could not get hands-on training with writing. 

For me I see it in this way. I wanted to be a medical writer. After attending interviews in clinical research industry I learnt that you could not get in without experience. Whoa… If nobody is gonna take in freshers how are the freshers ever gonna gain experience? Never mind I said and carried on until I earned myself a job as a fresher and luckily the profile given to me was all about medical writing. But wait, I could not boast myself as a medical writer because I hadn’t mastered it. So along with creating premature drafts I was coaching myself to write better thru the sites and instructions given there. One particular point read ‘posting on a blog is helpful’, actually I don’t even remember where I had come across this. But that was it and I started right away. 

Now I write simply on anything keeping focus on the writing and use of language and minor details that count. Moreover I grow more and more confident as well as dedicated to it. If I feel that ok may be it is not yet ready, then I just keep it unpublished. But the best part is that i have started on it so I have put down my initial thoughts. I can always start thinking of it to complete it. 

All the same I’m also prepared with a portfolio of my sample articles in case I would need it in near future! Get my point? 

All you have to do is create a blog first whether or not you have anything to write on. Once you have a blog you will be constantly reminded that you will have to write on something. Just anything! 

It’s not important that you have to write on some great thing. If you have no idea of a topic related to medical writing, start with a description of yourself. You could also write on your take on general discussions, latest news or even your understanding of the topic of interest.

Blogging is what I call self-learning.

 RD

Until now, it was the IT industry that looped in all the students, starting out aiming for a good and satisfying career. But recently, there has been much talk about clinical research in the pharmaceutical colleges, among life science graduates (BSc. Biology, chemistry, biotech; MSc.) and has even attracted medical students. Thanks to the training institutes that generously spread awareness on this particular option.

And the industry seems to be just stepped into India and has a long and steady way to go. Yes, the option is good. If you are eligible for attaining admission then good take it up. For that matter every career choice and option is good. What makes it successful is not the option or that popularity but YOU. What made the IT industry so powerful is their employee, the brains behind, who had the ability to create such magnificent designs and software for easing the everyday activities.

So it is important that when we think of a career option we understand what it is? What is needed to be in it? What was my initial interest? Do they in any way resemble? Now since you have a slight thought in your mind whether I should consider this option, it is important that you understand the outline of this particular option.

The medicines we use are a product of exhaustive trials (on animals and humans), strict surveillance and prolonged scrutiny by the drug regulatory officials to successfully get approved and allowed registration.

Technically speaking, a new chemical/medicinal compound is discovered or invented by the scientist that is believed to have therapeutic effects on a certain clinical condition. This belief is then studied upon at the cost of animal trials initially. This phase is called Pre-clinical phase.

The clinical research we speak of colloquially represents the clinical phases which include Phase I, II, III, and IV.

Phase I: the new compound is for the first time studied on the humans. For this healthy humans are chosen. We don’t want to give it directly to the diseased people because they are already compromised. Until now we know only the effects of the compound on the animals. Although it may be genuinely efficacious in treatment, the safety of the compound needs to be confirmed. The efficacy may prove futile if the compound has more risks than benefits.

Phase II: once it has been confirmed that the drug is apparently safe, it is brought to treat those suffering from a clinical condition for which the drug is to be used. Safety and efficacy are being tested on a specific group.

Phase III: it is now that the drug has gained a little more praise by passing the phase II exam. Now it is tested a bit more by exposing it to a larger group of patients. This is the final and most important stage to prove both SAFETY and EFFICACY. The larger group of patients means that if the drug does have any reliable efficacy and safety then it is possible to use it freely in all the people who were represented by the participating patients.

Phase IV: this phase is not literally a trial but a surveillance and watch out period. The drug has attained an approval to be manufactured for sale and distribution. It may happen that due to some reason the armful effects had not been seen, recorded, reported during the trials. So for 4 years from the date of approval, the drug is watched for any adverse effects that will further decide whether the drug is really the miraculous remedy to the disease.

What career opportunity does one avail of in this scenario? Let me explain this to you in a retrospective fashion. The ultimate aim is to get a new drug approved to allow its sale and distribution in the market. This is a result of the satisfaction of the drug regulatory officials who are convinced of the drug’s ability to treat without proving harmful beyond limits. These officials abide by the documentation that describes the activities and results. They visualize the conduct, problems and results through these data.

So the process typically flows as trial conducted at a site, monitored by a clinical research associate, simultaneous transfer of data to the data management dept., which is turned over to the medical writing dept. after the study at a particular site has been completed. The statisticians work along with the medical writing dept. because the data has to be statistically evaluated and that evaluation is further interpreted again by the medical writing department.

None of the activities can be carried out independently. It is a team work. The regulatory dept. helps by compiling the all this technical data in a manner that is agreeable by the drug authorities.

Thus the final dossier is ready to be submitted to the drug authorities, either DCGI in India or FDA if in US, Europe or Japan.
All these departments suggest that it is an opportunity for people with similar interests and skills.

This is a short and concise view of clinical research and the interiors of it to think of it as a career option.

All the best!

RD

How many of you have stumbled into medical writing via clinical research? Today, clinical research has etched its name on the minds of people looking for a decent and well paying career. Medical writing has thereby for some or other reason has had a magnetic effect on those looking at the options available within clinical research.

“Sir, I’m not a medicine graduate; does that leave me out of medical writing as a career option?” has been a frequently asked question in most of the clinical research classes. Some unexplainable force pulls those looking for a challenge in their careers.

Such is the nature of medical writing! Magnetic! Challenging! Skillful! And above all, use of intellect and interpretation.

Seated in my CR classes I would attentively listen and learn about each of the areas of work or should I call it ‘departments’ for ease. I was simultaneously analyzing which of these interests me more than the other. Is it CDM (clinical data management) where a thorough knowledge of handling invaluable data and careful use of the costly software has to be dealt? Or is it clinical operations where one needs to be apt enough to manage an entire site along with its staff while you simultaneously think of the other sites you are entitled, continuously tapping into your laptops seated in the airports? May be I should consider regulatory affairs; where you are sharp enough to understand the laws and their implications along with the money that goes along it? Ok wait a minute! Was I detailing everything to myself taking after understanding each of the job profile, the required skill set, self evaluation and interpretation of the whole view? Then may be I should think of medical writing!!

Have you experienced a similar situation? Have you analyzed and evaluated yourself? If you do have an interest in medical writing, take a moment to write down your interest in MW in bold letters on the top of the page first. Next write down what is needed of a medical writer. This would be followed by what you own of the above listed skills. Even if you don’t know some, take a deep breath; it’s not the end of the world! Think over what you are not specialized in and if there is a way to learn it. And there must be.

It so happens at times that a certain job profile looks unattractive to us, but before we conclude and make statements we should take a minute to read between the lines; understand what is it that interests those working in this department? What is it that superiors or grade 1 managers or head of the department good at? Do I possess that ability? Am I aware of it?

There is an opportunity in every circumstance. The only obstacle may be time. Our aspirations may be high but we should never lose the thread to organize, analyze, evaluate and finally decide on the required logical action.

So go on research yourself today! May be you are one of the ‘brains’ for one of the above departments.

RD

Pandemonium! Actually I liked the word! So I was trying to use it & found the relevant place. I seemed to revolve around it. I started to write on my confusion of the esteem of medical writing but soon cleared it myself! The very next moment I gifted myself with another one about the morale linked to it! 

Honestly, I must have written a post or two to my satisfaction on this blog, created over a dozen of well written articles at work; but I still am struggling to accept the thought that medical writing as a career is a wise decision.

Moreover I thought I would be the most foolish person to publish my confusion. But isn’t it true that not always are you alone? It occurs to me many times that certain thoughts of righteousness are masked & erased as one grows. Somewhere it is nice to keep the innocence and morale alive within yourself as you work, or that is my idea!

It so happened that when considering medical writing as a prospective career, the immediate thing you’d think of, of course next to your liking for it, is your take home package. And as all, even I did think of the same. After a long search I did find some light and it was a lucrative bundle of figures but it belonged to US while I was in INDIA. There was a possibility of a vast difference. I decided to ask help from an Indian expert. I did post my query on a medical writing network forum. Awaiting reply I carried on with my work without thinking of the fruits.

In response to my post on the salary ranges at the medical writing network forum, I had received a reply stating it could range from 6000/- to 1,00,000/- in INDIA itself. Actually after the reading the reply I was sad & happy at the same time! Yes it caused more confusion than I had previously. Stuck? Writing for sure is very new to me. In my land I had the faintest idea that a writer would earn that much.

I was faced with writing mostly medico-marketing projects for pharmaceutical manufacturer. All I did write after days of exhausting literature search. But I noticed it made no difference to the ones who needed it. It would just be thanks for finishing it up. Sometimes the medical facts had to be cut down to give it more of a marketing look. That disappointed me to an extent. But that’s marketing! I could not stop it! Every time I encountered such a situation, I’d be thinking for the rest of the day whether I’d want to compromise my medical knowledge to just promote. And why would someone to whom it makes no difference pay me a handsome amount for that?

Heavy-hearted I was because if the writing, the message is not good (that could mean not meeting expectations) may be I/someone be stuck with the minimum wages. A gut feeling that it would happen if I tried to keep up the genuineness where not needed.  In the other case also if somebody really does get paid like that 1,00,000 (I had to actually concentrate on the no. of zeroes) moreover in INDIA, why would he/she be? I just don’t get the point. Why are people getting paid for writing?

Somehow, I got used to writing what they wanted, in their viewpoint. I’d try my best to keep up the core basics, convince them that may be such a point would actually be detrimental to a marketing strategy! I understood that an article that put forth their thoughts to their audience without raising questions was worth a million! Pharmaceutical companies had to sell their products & reach to a maximum of physicians. And this wouldn’t happen if they conveyed a wrong message. So even if they did want to sell through this, they did better state the facts. 

I wanted to do a work allotted to me with all my heart & mind into it. And I find it difficult to give my hundred percent when the work forwarded is just for formality. Somehow I seem to be at ease now! i heard myself speaking that not always are you trying to mask the facts. it is the need of the hour you cannot blame yourself! And then burst out laughing slyly at myself thinking where had all my morale disappeared?

Have I written too much of my confusion? But it relieved me! Why? Because when in future there arises a point when I would rejoice over a fat pay cheque for a successful medico-marketing article I‘d surely think of this moment when I strived to be outrageously right!

“The truth of the matter is that you always know the right thing to do. The hard part is doing it.”

Norman Schwarzkopf

 RD

Medical writing!  

Answering some basic questions: What? Who? How? Where?

As I think of topics to post on my blog, it occurs to me that the best way to start would to write on topics related to the blog & thereby have an understanding of it.

And then there is no stop since my pen starts writing as my minds speaks continuously; as though I speak in person to my colleague explaining my nature of work & the explanation.

These are the questions I wanted to be answered when I ventured first into it & got answered from varied sources. I wish it is of help to some who too are at present freshers stepping into it whether out of curiosity, interest or career decision.

MW- in India, it’s the buzz with all life science graduates especially the doctors in case of clinical research. May be that’s because doctors identify medical writing to their background of medicine? I don’t mean to say MW is all connected to CR. It’s absolutely not restricted to CR. This, I, found out only later. And I’m sure some would have made that out already. What I would like to point out in this post is peculiarly your (beginner’s) initial questions.

MW:

1.        What is it?

2.       Can I do it? The eligibility.

3.       How do I learn & pursue it? The technique.

4.      Any courses that will be useful? The hot shot teachers.

Medical writing: What is it?

·         First of all, it is simply a form of communication in English.

·         Next it is related to health, whether general (heath awareness, news, facts & tips) or specific (scientific, medical).

·         Persons interested & determined can do it! Are you one?

Let us consider that you are interested a human health related topic (scientific or non-scientific) on paper. The aim of writing such an article is that somebody is going to read it. The reader may differ, it could a person who understands the scientific complexity or who does not. In the same manner the simplicity of the write-up will differ. The trick lies in first understanding the topic yourself & trying to explain or say pass on the key message in the least words of simple understanding. I mean you don’t want somebody else trying to simplify your article!!    

So you are the connecter between those have researched, experimented, experienced some medical or health facts that they want to convey to their peers or the mass. So we could state that:

       Researcher/    —–MW—-   Reader

    doctor/scientist                 (Medico/Non-medico)

I hope to have put it in the simplest form. Of the different forms of medical writing, we will discuss in my future article.

Usually, articles aimed at people who understand this intricate medical science (usually doctors/peer researchers/research authorities/medical, pharmacological students, et al) the language may not be very easy to interpret & the use of research & medical terminology may be maintained.

On the contrary if the reader is a consumer and is curious to understand the general information of the human body’s physiology & pathology and the medical interventions available. The topics must be in words that would be understood without much difficulty without losing the mandatory message. Now this is the challenging phase!

Eligibility: How do I know I can do it?

The 3 important must haves: Science, English, Communication skill.

The above paragraphs boil down to the point that if you are someone who understands (it’s very important) the health/ medical facts n that you can very well & simply communicate to your respective audience… I think you win! So it is recommended by those who recruit you that you know science and can write well. It also pays to say that one better be good at spoken & written communication.

What should I do to get into this?

Work on your strengths!

To answer that question you need to know in prior what do we know, so that we learn what we don’t. Right?  So if you know science, learn the writing skill and on other hand if you are very good at expressing on the paper then learn some science!

What about science?

Does medical writing mean medicine as in medical colleges, doctors, pharmacology and all that? Not necessary! Yes you read it right. You must have made out that there is writing for websites, magazines, pharma companies, journals, medico-marketing to say the least. These are some of what I discovered. Of course they don’t end there. I am myself still to find out & dig into it more. And I promise keep all I find of concern to post it here right on MW. So do you think that you are interested in say some health related topic like yoga and health? And you go on to write on this topic after a decent R&D to a point that you are now ready to project that knowledge to everyone around you. Now don’t tell me, “next?” yes you are a medical writer.

Writing skills? What are they?

OK what do exactly mean by write well. See one can surely use flowery language to make an article look or sound good. But does it add any value if not then sorry no use.

·         Can you explain something to an audience in writing?

·         Can you be simple?

·         Can you keep up the message all through?

·         Can you get to the point?

There are a lot of tips that are spread on your ‘World Wide Web’ browser. Of course I’m not sure to have seen all them. Like some I found on daily writing tips, medical writer (a medical writing blog itself), and medical writing network. But I’d first like to stick to

§         Read the subject

§         Understand and contemplate over it

§         Start to write whatever you have understood from it

§         Think in terms of the audience. Can they understand this? Of what help is it to them?

§         You need not be right from the very start. You can correct later after the whole article is over. So you put down on paper all you think you would want to tell your reader.

§         After the above step is the start of correction. This is what is called proof-reading.

Formal training? Where can I learn?

When browsing I found the established ones as AMWA, EMWA, AIMWA and many more to name. May be I have not encountered many of them myself! In an attempt to do justice to it I leave this part to the established medical writers. Here also I wish to endorse that although formal training is of utmost value but it can wait. That’s how I think of it! I simply draw this from the fact that I myself into it without the training which I plan to pursue in near future. Does this fact help you in any way?

Bottom-line

Does that make MW simple to you? Now you can sit back from your comp & evaluate for yourself what are strength & weakness. I mean if you think that you know medicine or interested in spreading/conveying about health then work on the writing part. On the contrary if you think you can write well then start learning health- related topics. Of course I can’t tell you get yourself a 5 yr medical degree as in India but you can start by selecting a favorite topic n reading all that you can.

For those who still are thinking, “Will I be able to do it?” I just have one line to share with you (I geared up with this one)…

“The creator has not given you a longing to do that which you have no ability to do”

-Orrison Swett Marden.

Plagiarism is the unauthorized use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one’s own original work. And on being aware I surely do not want to be a part of it. So I affirm that all this understanding of this topic is through the sites AMWA, EMWA, Medical writer, Medical writing network, Daily writing tips and all those to whom conversed. I have surely not copy-pasted anything from any website (other than the meaning of plagiarism).