Freelance Medical Communications for the Veterinary Industry

This article describes the medical communications field and veterinarians’ role in it.

What is medical communication?

Medical communication involves developing and producing documents that deal specifically with medicine or healthcare. Effective medical writers are knowledgeable in both writing and science, combining creativity with the rigor of the scientific process. They produce accurate and engaging content to inform and educate the target audience.

Some examples of medical communications include:

• Clinical or scientific manuscripts

• Regulatory documents (protocols, clinical study reports, drug inserts)

• Continuing education materials

• Grant proposals

• Patient or client information material (handouts, disease information)

• Medical reference and healthcare books

• Marketing materials

• Sales training

• Poster presentations

• Slide presentations for conferences

• White papers

Why should you hire a freelance medical writer?

Producing medical communication content requires time, effort, and expertise. This is where freelance medical writers come in. Working with a freelance or contract writer requires close coordination, communication, and strict adherence to project management guidelines, but the advantages can significantly outweigh this investment:

1. Expertise and Experience: Freelance medical writers have the knowledge and experience to write accurate and engaging medical content. They have often developed fields of expertise such as specific therapeutic areas, writing for the general public, or regulatory writing. It is crucial to find a writer whose expertise fits your needs.

2. Timesaving: Writing medical content is time-consuming, and many medical or science professionals lack the experience or training in writing skills. A freelance writer can take care of the entire writing process, from research to editing, leaving you with more time to devote to patient care or other core business activities. Hiring a freelance medical writer can free up time to focus on other essential tasks.

3. Cost-Effective: Hiring a full-time medical writer can be expensive, particularly for smaller healthcare organizations. Freelance medical writers, on the other hand, offer a cost-effective solution. You only pay for the work you need to keep your costs low while getting high-quality content.

4. Flexibility: Freelance medical writers offer a high degree of flexibility. They can work on a project-by-project basis, so you can use their services when needed.

5. Objective Perspective: Freelance medical writers are not part of your organization, which means they bring a fresh, objective perspective to your project. They can suggest improvements and identify areas where the content could be more engaging or informative.

In conclusion, freelance medical writers offer a range of benefits. They have the expertise, experience, and knowledge to create accurate and engaging medical content while providing cost-effective, flexible, and objective solutions.

Veterinary medical writers

The veterinary industry requires the same types of documents mentioned above, and the use of medical writers for animal health-related content is growing. Requirements for publications and regulatory authorities seem to get more demanding each year, therapeutic options have become increasingly more complex, and clients are more knowledgeable than ever. Experience and expertise in this ‘niche’ area of healthcare are critical for preparing materials suited to different audiences' needs. However, there are very few veterinarians in the medical writing community. The American Medical Writers Association lists only 11 of over 1200 members as veterinarians or veterinary specialty writers. The European Medical Writers Association lists even fewer. The demand for veterinary medical writing services should increase dramatically in the future. Internal research indicates that the size of the global veterinary medical communications market could be as high as 100 million dollars by 2030.

A Personal Note

While working in pharmaceutical development, I never had time to finish the reports on a project because I had other high-priority projects to move on to. This was a significant source of stress, as the to-do pile of reports seemed to get only higher. The longer the files and reports got pushed aside, the more difficult it became to start again due to the time it took to re-familiarize myself with what was done and why. Requests for scientific publications, poster presentations, and product launch documents always seemed to come at the last minute. I did not have the time to focus on these laborious tasks while managing multiple other projects. And it was not just me – at every company I worked for, my colleagues experienced the same problems. It is in the nature of the competitive field of drug development to move quickly on to the next project to keep the pipeline full.

As I enter the next career phase, I want to continue contributing to the profession. I look forward to working with my past colleagues and building new relationships. I learned of a program through the University of Chicago with a solid reputation for developing writing expertise, and I have nearly completed my certification! I have always enjoyed writing and the craft of putting words together clearly and concisely. Completing the formal University of Chicago program has strengthened my abilities considerably, and I'm ready to provide the medical communications services you need to help your organization reach its goals.

Please get in touch to discuss working together!