Write Medicine

The medical and CME writers I teach often worry about how to rein in a tendency to burrow into the rabbit hole.

If you're a medical writer, I'm sure you know what I mean. That tendency to get led into or follow the delicious temptations of information, data, and stories that bear a family resemblance to the project you're working on, but are not quite on track.

The stories that are fascinating and feed your mind, but don't necessarily move your project any closer to a conclusion. 

Like you, I’m up against the challenge of the rabbit hole too.

But instead of seeing rabbit holes as something that derails us, perhaps it's possible to view them as gifts. 

In today's episode, I share a process that accommodates the pleasure of following where the rabbit hole leads and supports the time frame you typically have to do your work.
 
Resources
The shape of notes
Apps to match your note-taking style
Referencing software reviewed

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LinkedIn
Website

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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.

The CME/CE field has increased its focus on outcomes over the last decade. As a result, outcomes reports now involve a more bespoke process, showcasing more detailed targeted data presented in a visually appealing way.

Angelique Vinther CHCP is an independent data and outcomes consultant who has specialized in IME reporting for 14 years.  She focuses primarily on data collection and analysis methodologies, test question-writing best practices, and reports that communicate clear messaging and data transparency. 

In today’s episode of Write Medicine, we discuss best practices that education providers can use to evaluate the effectiveness of their CME/CE programs and how to use outcomes to inform decision-making. We explore solutions to education providers' main challenges in developing robust outcomes frameworks, like establishing an efficient process that allows time to evaluate the quality of feedback and think creatively about activity design.

Connect with Angelique
LinkedIn

Familiarity with outcomes is core to writing needs assessments. 
Next Level Needs Assessments is open for enrollment.
You’ll learn how to write lean, agile needs assessments with the help of deliberate practice, peer-to-peer discussion, and expert feedback.
Runs April 3-May 12, 2023
Ready to level up your needs assessment writing strategy? Learn more. 

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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.

The content creation process in continuing education for health professionals (CEHP) combines both art and science. As a result, creating content for continuing education attracts people who are synthesizers, information seekers, and creators—like academics, researchers, or health professionals looking for a career change. 

In EP 46 we explore taking the leap from clinical work to medical writing with Esther Langmack, MD, a medical writer and CME consultant. Esther deliberately practiced her newly acquired skills while working as a clinician and medical director of the CME unit at an academic medical center. Tapping into her natural curiosity, she fostered connections and honed her skills by being open to feedback from experienced colleagues. 

 We talk about the creativity, flexibility, and autonomy that creating education content for health professionals offers and discuss clinicians' specific strengths in CME/CEHP medical writing. 

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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.

Diana Durham PhD, FACEHP is an accreditation strategist who has worked in CME/CPD since the 1990s. Diana has served in many leadership roles, including for the Veterans Health Administration, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

We talk about the accreditation process in general and the evolution of joint accreditation in interprofessional continuing education (IPCE). And we consider how IPCE is evolving and the trends and impacts of accreditation bodies giving hospitals, healthcare systems, specialty societies, and medical schools a mechanism for joint accreditation. Diana shares her perspectives on creative methods of educating all members of the healthcare team such as Schwartz rounds, Project ECHO (Extension for Community Health Outcomes), and simulations.

Resources
Volpone
ACCME
ACCME Standards for Integrity and Independence in Accredited Continuing Education
Joint Accreditation
American Council for Pharmacy Education
American Nurses Credentialing Center
American Academy of Physician Assistants
Council on Optometric Practitioner Education
American Dental Association
Board of Certification for the Athletic Trainer

Connect with Diana
[email protected]
LinkedIn

Connect with Alex
Podcast
LinkedIn
YouTube

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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.

Medical research has the potential for far-reaching implications for individuals and society. Peer review remains the gold standard to ensure high-quality information. However, traditional journal submission involves an extensive process that is often costly, and time-consuming process.

Mark Riotto is the founder and president of The Research Post, a peer-reviewed, open-access publishing channel. Mark shares his insights on medical publishing and his campaign to promote a more visual experience for disseminating clinical data in a timely fashion. Mark considers the barriers to accessible, digestible information and we explore the advantages of the visual medium in an increasingly transparent publishing process.

Resources
The Nelson Memo: Ensuring Free, Immediate, and Equitable Access to Federally Funded Research

Connect with Mark
TheResearchPost
LinkedIn
Facebook: @theresearchpost

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Podcast
LinkedIn
YouTube

📍Grab the WriteCME Roadmap
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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.

Sedentary lifestyles pose significant well-being challenges to western cultures. For example, prolonged periods at a desk affect posture, mental and physical health, and stress levels. Those of us working in continuing medical education and continuing education for health professionals are no exception to these risks and we can all benefit from a proactive approach to injury prevention. 

Eva Stabenow, a medical writer and German translator specializing in health and wellness communication, shares her insights with us today. After years of searching  Eva found relief from chronic work-related pain by re-patterning her movements with Pilates. When she realized many of her fellow desk workers were facing the same challenges, she set out to help them. Today, in addition to keeping a full-ish writing and translation schedule, she empowers people of all ages and abilities to move better, feel better and live better through targeted 1-1 sessions and affordable online group classes. 

In addition to helping people understand complex health content using plain language, Eva physically conveys her passion for health and health communication by teaching Pilates—a low-impact activity that balances strength with mobility and flexibility, so that you can move more freely and with more power. 

We discuss the following topics:

✔️ Who benefits from Pilates, and what are those benefits
✔️ Preconceptions of flexibility, mobility, and strength training
✔️ What to look for in a Pilates instructor
✔️ Pilates role in bridging the gap between physical therapy and return to regular workouts

Resources

Connect with Eva
You can find and follow her at Sunroom Pilates.
email: [email protected]

Message Eva and mention this podcast to try a free class!

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Storytelling cultivates authentic connections and inspires curiosity in our audiences. At the same time, arousing emotions can enhance the learning experience in professional development and continuing education scenarios, like continuing medical education/continuing education in the health professions (CME/CEHP).

Today with Ben Riggs, author, writing coach, and Senior Communication Specialist for Kettering Health, Write Medicine considers how to use storytelling in the health professional education field.

We focus on the importance of understanding the constituent parts of the writing process and understanding audience needs by first defining who they are.

Connect with Ben
LinkedIn

Resources
Riggs B. Tell Them a Story. Using narrative nonfiction in your everyday writing. NY: Editorial Freelancers Association.  
WordRake: Writing Professionals on LinkedIn to Follow
Pepper Content:15 Freelance Writers You Should Follow on Linkedin for Inspiration
Clear Writing Q&A 
Get Started on Your Writing Journey
The Importance of Powerful Storytelling in Writing

When we were talking about ideas/"leafmold," Ben mentioned an essay he wrote about walking his dog, Lewie. Here's the essay. 

Ben's recommendations for d books on writing: 

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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.

In this bonus episode of Write Medicine I talk with Ben Riggs about writing voice. Ben is Senior Communication Specialist for Kettering Health and author of Tell Them A Story.

He shares insights on three components that contribute to writing voice: level of formality, syntax and use of metaphor.

Connect with Ben
LinkedIn

Resources
Riggs B. Tell Them a Story. Using narrative nonfiction in your everyday writing. NY: Editorial Freelancers Association.  
WordRake: Writing Professionals on LinkedIn to Follow
Pepper Content:15 Freelance Writers You Should Follow on Linkedin for Inspiration
Clear Writing Q&A
Get Started on Your Writing Journey
The Importance of Powerful Storytelling in Writing

When we were talking about ideas/"leafmold," Ben mentioned an essay he wrote about walking his dog, Lewie. Here's the essay. 

Ben's recommendations for d books on writing: 

📍Grab the WriteCME Roadmap
⭐ Review the podcast
🗞️ Biweekly Newsletter with tips and resources to enrich your CME content niche
➡️ Join WriteCME Pro for ongoing professional development
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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.

The Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) encourages the inclusion of the patient perspective within CME activities. And patient cases are a great way to meet this recommendation.

Allison Armagan, Pharm.D. a content and education director specializing in creating interactive patient cases, joins me in this episode to talk about how to create multifaceted, dynamic patient cases for education activities. She talks about how targeted patient cases provide ways for clinicians to experience a "real-life" scenario, allow them to practice their skills in a consequence-free environment, address patient needs, and identify gaps in their knowledge and skills.

Designing patient cases involves a LOT of research, starting with patient advocacy websites, clinical guidelines, and recent literature. Allison emphasizes the importance of understanding the patient's voice, in addition to the disease state information, and of the power of the narrative. to engage audiences by telling a memorable and enjoyable story.

Disclaimer
The opinions expressed within the content are solely the author's and do not reflect the opinions and beliefs of Pfizer.

Resources
Episode 4 of Write Medicine focuses on writing patient cases with Scott Kober.
Allison mentioned I’m Aware That I’m Rare, a podcast on pulmonary hypertension.

Connect with Allison
LinkedIn

Connect with Alex
LinkedIn
Website

📍Grab the WriteCME Roadmap
⭐ Review the podcast
🗞️ Biweekly Newsletter with tips and resources to enrich your CME content niche
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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.

Providers of accredited education for health professionals need to demonstrate that education activities have changed learner behavior and healthcare quality for the better. 

One of the best ways to show positive change is via outcomes reports. In episode 39 of Write Medicine, Medical Writer and Certified CME Professional Andrew Bowser ELS, CHCP talks about outcomes. Andy is the owner and lead developer with IconCME, a content development and consulting firm in Philadelphia. We discuss the format of reports, who the audiences are for outcomes reports, and how the results can help education evolve and improve. 

Andy describes the evolution of CME, outlines Moore’s Outcomes Framework for evaluating outcomes, and explores the increasing oversight of what constitutes accredited CME. We discuss the importance of narrative and telling a story within outcomes reporting and he recommends using visual cues to simplify the design and improve comprehension. 

He says, “there's a lot of interesting and creative ways you can portray the data and help people comprehend the outcomes of an activity.”

The following acronyms are mentioned in our conversation. 

Connect with Andy
IconCME
LinkedIn

Connect with Alex
LinkedIn
Website

📍Grab the WriteCME Roadmap
⭐ Review the podcast
🗞️ Biweekly Newsletter with tips and resources to enrich your CME content niche
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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.