Write Medicine

Struggling with how to create continuing medical education content for health professionals (CME/CE)?

Write Medicine is your definitive guide to mastering the craft of high-quality CME/CE content creation that lifts learning and changes behaviors.

Write Medicine is hosted by Alexandra Howson PhD, CHCP, FACEhp, a seasoned writer and researcher with decades of experience in healthcare, education, and CME/CE. Tune in every Wednesday for our feature episodes and start your week right with Monday Mentor sessions, where we focus on practical techniques to enhance your content creation approach.

Every Wednesday, Write Medicine explores the art, science, and nuances of crafting compelling CME/CE content through enriching conversations with experts in the CME/CE field and beyond. You'll gain valuable perspectives on adult learning, teaching platforms, effective learning formats, and emerging healthcare trends that shape our content.

In Monday Mentor, Alex shares her treasure trove of insights gained from creating, evaluating, and publishing outcomes results from scores of CME activities and programs.

Write Medicine is more than a podcast; it's a commitment to elevating your professional development in CME/CE content creation.

Whether you're planning, designing, writing, delivering, or evaluating CME/CE programs, Write Medicine is your home base for insights, guidance, and strategies to help you confidently navigate every stage of the CME/CE content creation journey.

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Don’t forget to subscribe to the Write Medicine podcast for more valuable insights on continuing medical education content for health professionals. Click the Follow button and subscribe on your favorite platform.

Mentioned in this episode:

Fall Back to School Sale

We're running a back-to-school sale September 2 through 12. Standalone CME writing toolkits, business kits, and quarterly WriteCME Pro membership — all at the best pricing we've offered this year. Everything's at www.alexhowson.com. Link's in the show notes.

Have you ever wondered how academics or researchers transition into a successful career in medical communications (or medcomms)? With academia becoming increasingly challenging, many PhDs, scientists, and researchers are considering new careers that allow them to apply their expertise.

Maybe you are too. 

As part of our First Friday Features, episode 87 of Write Medicine brings you an exclusive conversation with Vicky Sherwood, a seasoned medical writer with a rich background in academia and medcomms. 

In this episode, we explore Vicky's unique journey from academia into her thriving career as a medical communicator. Key takeaways include:

Whether you're considering a move into medical writing or are just curious about the diverse opportunities in medical communications, this episode will resonate with your professional aspirations. Don't miss out on Vicky’s invaluable insights!

Press play now to start your journey and unlock the secrets to a fulfilling career in medical communications.

Timestamps:

Connect with Vicky

LinkedIn

Website

Mentioned in this episode:

Fall Back to School Sale

We're running a back-to-school sale September 2 through 12. Standalone CME writing toolkits, business kits, and quarterly WriteCME Pro membership — all at the best pricing we've offered this year. Everything's at www.alexhowson.com. Link's in the show notes.

Are you curious about how artificial intelligence (AI) can augment medical writing? Or are you wondering how AI could change the way we approach continuing education for health professionals?

Listen in as Núria Negrão PhD shares tangible strategies for content creation.

As advances in AI lead to fears about human jobs being replaced, medical writers and CME/CE professionals are wondering how to adapt. Núria explains key opportunities to enhance your skills and stay ahead of the curve. We take a deeper look at the practical applications and limitations of generative AI in medical writing, offering you valuable insights to enhance your professional toolkit.

What you'll learn in this episode:

Call to Action: Tune in to this future-focused conversation to explore how AI can make you a better, more effective medical writer right now.

Timestamps:

Transcript

Mentioned in this episode:

Fall Back to School Sale

We're running a back-to-school sale September 2 through 12. Standalone CME writing toolkits, business kits, and quarterly WriteCME Pro membership — all at the best pricing we've offered this year. Everything's at www.alexhowson.com. Link's in the show notes.

Winter Solstice is a time of stillness that we can harness to reflect on our past year's journey. It's an opportunity to celebrate growth and anticipate what's coming next. So join me to reflect on memorable moments from the podcast this season and sneak a peek into the future of Write Medicine in 2024.

Season Highlights

Get a sneak peek into 2024

As always, thank you for listening and engaging with the community! Excited to continue the journey with you all in 2024.

Timestamps:

Resources

Episodes Mentioned

About Write Medicine

Hosted by Alexandra Howson PhD, CHCP

Produced by Golden Goose Creative

🎙️ Know someone who would love this podcast? Share the podcast

☕ Want to say thanks? Buy me a Coffee

Mentioned in this episode:

Fall Back to School Sale

We're running a back-to-school sale September 2 through 12. Standalone CME writing toolkits, business kits, and quarterly WriteCME Pro membership — all at the best pricing we've offered this year. Everything's at www.alexhowson.com. Link's in the show notes.

Show Notes

What privacy concerns do you have related to generative AI tools like ChatGPT? Do you worry about the internet scraping that comes with gen-AI territory? Are you searching for practical advice on how to effectively use generative AI for creating continuing education content for health professionals?

These questions and more are the focus of today’s episode of Write Medicine. My guest is medical writer and generative AI expert Nuria Negrao and we’re talking about how AI models like ChatGPT are trained and why we should care about this as well as the ethical implications of AI scraping information from various sources. Nuria also shares practical advice on effectively using generative AI for needs assessments and other types of CME/CPD content by paying attention to prompts, personas, and process. And we have a question from listener Natalie Turner about good prompts to aid in the development of a needs assessment.

Time Stamps:

(02:36) - Núria’s thoughts on using Generative AI as a thought partner for reflecting the full richness of cultural, ethnic, and gendered text and communication

(03:51) - The Reddit lawsuit against ChatGPT over access to private conversations

(06:27) - Listener Question: What are some good prompts to aid the development of a needs assessment?

(11:57) - What generative AI can help with

(15:15) - Using the process as a starting point

Click Here for the Transcript

Resources

API = application programming interface

About Guest

Núria is a medical writer in the continuing education field. Núria brings her scientific training as well as her vast experience in teaching effective science and medical communication to every project, helping craft engaging and effective educational experiences that support, inspire, and motivate learners.

Connect with Núria

LinkedIn

Grab Your ChatGPT Cheatsheet

About Write Medicine

Hosted by Alexandra Howson PhD, CHCP

Produced by Golden Goose Creative

📍Grab the WriteCME Roadmap

📰 Want more tips and tools from Alex and podcast guests? Subscribe to the newsletter. Twice a month from me to you. Biweekly Newsletter

➡️ Grab your WriteCME Roadmap! Get access to this complimentary ebook, designed to help you break into CME, find clients, and hone your craft.

➡️ Ready for skills, scaffolding, and support? Join WriteCME Pro

🎙️ Know someone who would love this podcast? Share the podcast

☕ Want to say thanks? Buy me a Coffee

Mentioned in this episode:

Fall Back to School Sale

We're running a back-to-school sale September 2 through 12. Standalone CME writing toolkits, business kits, and quarterly WriteCME Pro membership — all at the best pricing we've offered this year. Everything's at www.alexhowson.com. Link's in the show notes.

Show Notes

What existing skills and competencies do you know you have for sure? How can you put those skills to use to find new professional opportunities? Understanding and acknowledging your skills is crucial for building confidence and pursuing new professional opportunities. My guest today is JoAnna Pendergrass DVM, a veterinarian turned medical writer who has built a successful solo business creating content focused on pet health and educating pet parents. If you have participated in the freelance panel offered by the University of Chicago Professional Certificate Program in Medical Writing, you’ll recognize JoAnna. Today she shares the catalysts that triggered her transition from veterinary practice to medical writing, the challenges she faced in making this shift, and how she found solutions to those challenges.

If you are a vet thinking of medical writing as a side hustle or alternative career, you’re going to want to listen to this episode. It’s jam-packed with tips and resources to support your medical writing journey. We talk about the importance of doing the internal work to clarify what brings you joy and to identify your current skills and competencies, how to build your business in a way that works for your life, and the importance of finding other vets who have made the shift into medical writing—people who speak your language.

Time Stamps:

(03:39) - Introducing JoAnna

(07:40) - Her next steps and the challenges she navigated in shifting into medical writing

(12:22) - JoAnna’s perspective on the field itself as she moved from a postdoc context into medical writing

(14:02) - Her experience with agency work

(17:29) - How JoAnna faced challenges

(22:34) - How she found community with other veterinary medical writers

(24:18) The impact of finding a community who spoke her language

(24:50) The skills she brought from veterinary training to medical writing

(27:59) What has surprised her about medical writing

(31:50) JoAnna’s advice for vets thinking about shifting into medical writing

(37:52) Her final thoughts on building a successful and effective business that works for your life

Click Here for the Transcript

Resources

SCORE

About JoAnna

JoAnna Pendergrass, DVM, is a veterinarian and freelance medical writer. She has been a medical writer for over 10 years and started her freelance medical communication company, JPen Communications, in 2016. JoAnna is passionate about pet owner education. Through her writing, she seeks to fill in the gap between what the veterinarian says and what the pet parent understands.

Connect with JoAnna

LinkedIn

JPen Communications

About Write Medicine

Hosted by Alexandra Howson PhD, CHCP

Produced by Golden Goose Creative

📰 Want more tips and tools from Alex and podcast guests? Subscribe to the newsletter. Twice a month from me to you. Biweekly Newsletter

📍 Grab your WriteCME Roadmap! Get access to this complimentary ebook, designed to help you break into CME, find clients, and hone your craft.

➡️ Ready for skills, scaffolding, and support? Join WriteCME Pro

🎙️ Know someone who would love this podcast? Share the podcast

☕ Want to say thanks? Buy me a Coffee

Show Notes

Are you angsting over the potential impact of generative AI on your work? Are you hyper-dialed into ethical considerations around the potential for copyright infringement, data ownership, and authorship when using generative AI tools like ChatGPT? Whatever your questions or concerns are about generative AI, this technology is poised to transform how we create continuing education content for health professionals. 

Today’s episode is the first in a 2-part series of episodes that focus on writing, reasoning, and the ethical considerations surrounding generative AI. My guest is Núria Negrao PhD, a medical writer specializing in CME/CPD and a generative AI enthusiast who's been playing with ChatGPT since it burst onto the horizon in 2022.

We review different ways to use gen-AI tools like Bing and Bard for tasks like summarization and identifying key points, and touch on copyright issues, using OpenAI's API, and how to use gen-AI to create formulas that support scientific writing. And we also explore the value of bringing a human perspective and cultural knowledge into the writing and content creation process and the potential benefits and legal challenges of using AI tools, like ChatGPT. 

Time Stamps:

(03:30) - Introducing Núria

(07:06) - The questions she was tinkering with and asking in the early phases of Generative AI

(10:10) - Her thoughts on navigating the GenAI landscape for beginners

(12:50) - Practical use cases of Generative AI implementation

(17:18) - Handling the client conversation around using GenAI

(22:50) - Listener Question: Around legal and ethical implications for submitting your own text for analysis by generative AI

(29:11) - Exploring the dangers of using Generative AI as our collaborators 

Click Here for the Transcript

Resources

API = application programming interface

About Guest

Núria is a medical writer in the continuing education field. Núria brings her scientific training as well as her vast experience in teaching effective science and medical communication to every project, helping craft engaging and effective educational experiences that support, inspire, and motivate learners.

Connect with Núria

LinkedIn

Grab Your Gen-AI Cheatsheet

About Write Medicine

Hosted by Alexandra Howson PhD, CHCP

Produced by Golden Goose Creative

📰 Want more tips and tools from Alex and podcast guests? Subscribe to the newsletter. Twice a month from me to you. Biweekly Newsletter

📍 Grab your WriteCME Roadmap! Get access to this complimentary ebook, designed to help you break into CME, find clients, and hone your craft.

➡️ Ready for skills, scaffolding, and support? Join WriteCME Pro

🎙️ Know someone who would love this podcast? Share the podcast

☕ Want to say thanks? Buy me a Coffee

Mentioned in this episode:

Fall Back to School Sale

We're running a back-to-school sale September 2 through 12. Standalone CME writing toolkits, business kits, and quarterly WriteCME Pro membership — all at the best pricing we've offered this year. Everything's at www.alexhowson.com. Link's in the show notes.

Show Notes

Are you running correlation analysis in your education activity and program evaluation? Are you having conversations with your colleagues, as listener Natalie Goldberg is, about how access to practice data is potentially redefining how we think about Moores outcomes at levels 5, 6, and 7?

In part 1 of this 2-part series of conversations with Katie Lucero Ph.D., Vice President, Audience, Analytics, Outcomes & Insights at Medscape we began to open up the black box that houses the relationship between self-efficacy, commitment to change, and intent to change.

In part 2, we focus on how access to health data is evolving and what this means for measuring outcomes, the power of reinforcement and what that looks like, and tips for enhancing outcomes measures and strategies for measuring the impact of education programs.

Time Stamps:

(02:26) - The relationship between self-efficacy and commitment to change

(05:37) - Unpacking the concept of commitment to change

(10:09) - Listener Question: Are the definitions of what constitutes Moore’s Levels changing or evolving

(12:28) - The research Katie has been doing with Don Moore

(16:26) - Her sense of how much correlation people are doing in this field

(18:23) - Practical steps to optimize available resources for enhanced outcome measurement in education programs

(22:02) - What she is seeing in the future that excites her in terms of outcomes

(23:55) - How to stay in touch with Katie and her work

Click Here for the Transcript

Resources

Lucero KS, Williams B, Moore DE Jr PhD. The Emerging Role of Reinforcement in the Clinician's Path from Continuing Education to Practice. J Cont Ed Health Prof. Nov 14, 2023.

Alliance Podcast. ‘Assessing Assessments.’ Jim Morgante, PhD

Assessing Assessments: Are your questions any good? Alliance Annual Conference, 2023. Jason Olivieri, MPH, Jim Morgante, PhD

About Katie

As Vice President at Medscape, Katie leads content marketing, analytics, outcomes & insights. Katie previously was PI and lead evaluator on federal grants and local contracts, directed QI-CME and health outcomes studies, and evaluated public health programs at the CDC. Katie was named 2020 Brian P. Russell CME Professional of the Year. She earned a PhD at Auburn University in Human Development.

Connect with Katie

email: [email protected]

LinkedIn

💥 Black Friday Blowout: Details Here

About Write Medicine

Hosted by Alexandra Howson PhD, CHCP

Produced by Golden Goose Creative

📍Grab the WriteCME Roadmap

📰 Want more tips and tools from Alex and podcast guests? Subscribe to the newsletter. Twice a month from me to you. Biweekly Newsletter

➡️ Grab your WriteCME Roadmap! Get access to this complimentary ebook, designed to help you break into CME, find clients, and hone your craft.

➡️ Ready for skills, scaffolding, and support? Join WriteCME Pro

🎙️ Know someone who would love this podcast? Share the podcast

☕ Want to say thanks? Buy me a Coffee

Mentioned in this episode:

Fall Back to School Sale

We're running a back-to-school sale September 2 through 12. Standalone CME writing toolkits, business kits, and quarterly WriteCME Pro membership — all at the best pricing we've offered this year. Everything's at www.alexhowson.com. Link's in the show notes.

Show Notes

If you’re a continuing medical education provider, do you ever feel as though your approach to outcomes measures could use some spice? Do you wonder what are we missing when we don't include process measures in outcomes evaluation? Or when you are working on outcomes measurement, analysis, and crucially, writing that outcomes report, do you find yourself wondering how to use confidence as an indicator of behavior change, or where self-efficacy fits into the outcomes mix?

That’s our focus today with Katie Lucero PhD, Vice President, Audience, Analytics, Outcomes & Insights at Medscape. We’re also talking about frameworks for behavior change, user experience in learning, and the meaning of confidence and self-efficacy as education outcome measures. 

Today’s episode is the first in a 2-part series of episodes that focus on outcomes evaluation that dig into questions like the significance of self-reported confidence, competence, intent or commitment to change, the value of using claims data and digital footprint to study practice change at scale, and asking open-ended questions for qualitative data.

Time Stamps:

(02:44) - Introducing Katie

(06:36) - Digging into process and outcomes evaluation in program evaluation

(08:03) - Exploring process measures in outcomes evaluation

(09:20) - What kind of checks and markers to be thinking about

(11:05) - Katie’s thoughts on success metrics with pre and post-test scores

(15:30) - Importance of user experience when thinking about outcomes

(19:07) - Self-efficacy important for behavior change

(23:03) - Considerations for measuring confidence

Click Here for the Transcript

Resources

Lucero KS, Williams B, Moore DE Jr PhD. The Emerging Role of Reinforcement in the Clinician's Path from Continuing Education to Practice. J Cont Ed Health Prof. Nov 14, 2023.

Alliance Podcast. ‘Assessing Assessments.’ Jim Morgante, PhD

Assessing Assessments: Are your questions any good? Alliance Annual Conference, 2023. Jason Olivieri, MPH, Jim Morgante, PhD

About Katie

As Vice President at Medscape, Katie leads content marketing, analytics, outcomes & insights. Katie previously was PI and lead evaluator on federal grants and local contracts, directed QI-CME and health outcomes studies, and evaluated public health programs at the CDC. Katie was named 2020 Brian P. Russell CME Professional of the Year. She earned a PhD at Auburn University in Human Development.

Connect with Katie

email: [email protected]

LinkedIn

💥 Black Friday Blowout: Details Here

About Write Medicine

Hosted by Alexandra Howson PhD, CHCP

Produced by Golden Goose Creative

📍Grab the WriteCME Roadmap

📰 Want more tips and tools from Alex and podcast guests? Subscribe to the newsletter. Twice a month from me to you. Biweekly Newsletter

➡️ Grab your WriteCME Roadmap! Get access to this complimentary ebook, designed to help you break into CME, find clients, and hone your craft.

➡️ Ready for skills, scaffolding, and support? Join WriteCME Pro

🎙️ Know someone who would love this podcast? Share the podcast

☕ Want to say thanks? Buy me a Coffee

If you work in CME, especially in oncology, then sooner or later you’re going to consult American Cancer Society resources. But how much do you know about the history of this organization? And how much do you know about Mary Lasker and her contributions to cancer research?

Hello, hello, and welcome back to Write Medicine, the podcast that explores best practices in creating continuing education content for health professionals. I'm your host, Alex Howson, and in today's episode, we explore a story that shaped the field of medicine and cancer research in particular. My guest is Judy Pearson, an author, cancer survivor, and catalyst for change who shares her extensive research on Mary Lasker, a woman whose name may not be widely known, but whose impact on cancer research and treatment is immeasurable. 

We explore how Mary's partnership with her husband Albert played a pivotal role in transforming the American Society for the Control of Cancer into what is now known as the American Cancer Society. Mary believed in the power of research and was determined to use her life, her money, and her social connections to make a difference and was dedicated to education, civic-mindedness, and relentlessly pursuing change, even when it meant challenging the status quo. 

So grab your pens and notebooks, as Judy Pearson takes us on a journey through the extraordinary life of Mary Lasker, a fascinating woman who shaped the world of medicine, right here on Write Medicine.

Time Stamps:

(3:25) - Introducing Judy

(6:58) - Exploring the life of Mary Lasker

(12:21) - Where Mary and Margaret Sanger’s crossed paths

(14:19) - The contributions of the Lasker's

(17:03) - Mary's belief in research

(27:34) - Judy’s writing and research process

(32:21) - When to stop going down the rabbit hole

(35:38) - Obstacles Mary faced and how she overcame them

Click Here for the Transcript

Resources

Judy Pearson. Crusade to Heal America: The Remarkable Life of Mary Lasker. 2023. [affiliate link]

Emma Donahue. The Pull of the Stars: A Novel. 2020 [affiliate link]

About Judy

Judy Pearson is a writer and cancer survivor who discovered her passion for writing at the age of twelve. Sitting in a tree in her parents' backyard, she began to express her preteen angst through words. Although she initially pursued a career as a French teacher, she later transitioned into advertising and marketing. Around 20 years ago, Judy started writing for publication, and her journey as a cancer survivor led her to explore the history of cancer treatment and health. Her latest book, Crusade to Heal America, focuses on the biography of the cancer survivorship movement, showcasing her dedication to raising awareness and understanding the heroines and heroes who have faced cancer. Writing has become Judy's favorite activity, allowing her to share her personal experiences and make a significant impact on others' lives. Her previous books include From Shadows to Life: A Biography of the Cancer Survivorship Movement (which won the 2022 Nautilus Gold Award), Wolves at the Door: The True Story of America’s Greatest Female Spy, and Belly of the Beast: A POW’s Story of Faith, Courage, and Survival Aboard a WWII Hell Ship.

About Write Medicine

Hosted by Alexandra Howson PhD, CHCP

Produced by Golden Goose Creative

📍Grab the WriteCME Roadmap

📰 Want more tips and tools from Alex and podcast guests? Subscribe to the newsletter. Twice a month from me to you. Biweekly Newsletter

➡️ Grab your WriteCME Roadmap! Get access to this complimentary ebook, designed to help you break into CME, find clients, and hone your craft.

➡️ Ready for skills, scaffolding, and support? Join WriteCME Pro

🎙️ Know someone who would love this podcast? Share the podcast

☕ Want to say thanks? Buy me a Coffee

Mentioned in this episode:

Fall Back to School Sale

We're running a back-to-school sale September 2 through 12. Standalone CME writing toolkits, business kits, and quarterly WriteCME Pro membership — all at the best pricing we've offered this year. Everything's at www.alexhowson.com. Link's in the show notes.