Musings on Medicine and the Health Care System

Making Sure Your Freelance Medical Writer Doesn’t Suck

So you’ve decided to hire a freelance medical writer! Good for you. You’ve Googled “freelance medical writer,” gone to the American Medical Writer Association to search its freelance directory, called your friend in the medcom down the road for a recommendation. But how do you know what you’re getting?

Oh sure, the writer you found sounded good on the phone. Her clips looked good. Her resume seemed impressive. But how do you know she doesn’t really suck? After all, by the time the project is due it’s a little late for regret.

Never fear. . . Deb is here. I’m here to tell you the 10 Golden Rules to make sure you not only get the right medical writer for your project today, but one that you can work with for the next 10 projects and beyond.

But have you taken the time to go through the top 10 steps to making sure you get the most out of our relationship? After all, time is money. You don’t want to waste either.

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Ode to a Copy Editor

The heavens must be aligned today because I’ve been reminded twice in the past few hours of the importance of copy editors.

For those who don’t know what a copy editor is let me just say this: A good copy editor is to a piece of writing what the Secret Service is to the President: protection of the most profound type. She (and most are women) stands between excellent writing and disaster. She is the one who asks if you really meant to say that direct medical costs for asthma in the United States are $11 million a year, or $11 billion a year (the latter). She is the one who realizes you skipped a reference and now none of your endnotes are in the right place. She is the one who knows that you really mean to write multiple sclerosis, not muscular dystrophy.

Bottom line, she is the one who can see the trees in the forest when the writer can barely even see the forest anymore.

For no matter how many times a writer edits a piece, even, as I do, printing it out and doing a final edit on hard copy or, as my friend … Continue Reading

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The Many Faces of Editing

The heavens must be aligned today because I’ve been reminded three times in the past few hours of the importance of copy editors.

For those who don’t know what a copy editor is let me just say this: A good copy editor is to a piece of writing what the Secret Service is to the President: protection of the most profound type. She (and most are women) stands between excellent writing and disaster. She is the one who asks if you really meant to say that direct medical costs for asthma in the United States are $11 million a year, or $11 billion a year (the latter). She is the one who realizes you skipped a reference and now none of your references are in the right place. She is the one who know that you really mean to write multiple sclerosis, not muscular dystrophy.

No matter how many times a writer edits a piece, even, as I do, printing it out and doing a final edit on hard copy or, as my friend Alisa does, reading it out loud, a copy editor will improve our work every single time.

It took me many years to come to realization. … Continue Reading

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Public Option, Medicare, What’s the Difference?

Warning: This is one of those “policy” posts, so if you’re looking for pithy freelance medical writing verbiage, come back tomorrow.

If you’re still with me, you know that the Senate begins debate today on the healthcare insurance reform bill (apparently we’re no longer calling it “healthcare reform” because there’s still so far to go in terms of reforming the overweight, out-of-control, drunken healthcare system we’ve created over the past 50 years).

One of the big sticking points to getting a bill passed in the Senate, pundits say, will be the so-called “public option.” This component provides a bare bones, government-sponsored health plan, subsidized as needed based on income, to compete with private health insurance plans. The plan would be delivered by private insurers paid by the federal government. In the Senate plan, states would be able to opt out of it if they wanted. Nonpartisan estimates from the Congressional Budget Office show that just 4 to 6 million Americans would go for it. Oh, and it would save billions over 10 years. Yet based on the reaction from most Republicans and some Democrats, you’d think it was a proposal to cut off every American’s right arm!

The main objection? … Continue Reading

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What I’m Thankful For As a Medical Writer

In the spirit of the upcoming holiday, here are 15 things I’m thankful for as a freelance medical writer (full disclosure: I stole this idea from my friend Alisa, who has an awesome blog on marriage and romance you should follow at www.projecthappilyeverafter.com)

I’m thankful . . .

1. That I get to work in sweaty workout clothes and no one knows (except my dogs and they smell worse than me).

2. For clients who know what they want, pay promptly, and actually provide feedback.

3. That I learn something new on every project.

4. That I can write about topics that affect everyone.

5. That I have more job security than anyone in a “traditional” job.

6. That I can set my own schedule.

7. That I have a PhD husband who shares my office when he’s not traveling and can decipher statistics for me.

8. For the Internet. How did anyone do this job without it?

9. For my friend Gen who told me about the wonderful world of double computer screens; couldn’t live without them!

10. For all the other freelancers at AMWA who listen when I need to vent and provide such great advice

11. For … Continue Reading

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You Need Me . . .You Really Do!

There’s been a lot of debate about the role of the medical writer in world of journal articles. The “g” word (ghostwriting) has been tossed about like salt on a Rachel Ray set. I’ll get into that debate in a later post, but for now I just want to say something about medical writers and why doctors need us: Doctors. Can’t. Write.

Ok, before you start lobbing your stethoscopes at me, let me explain. I know there are some doctors out there who are not only wonderful at writing journal articles and other medical pieces, such as CME programs, but also fiction and nonfiction. Two of my favorite authors–Perri Klass and Abraham Verghese–are physicians.

But let’s be honest here: you didn’t become physicians because of the narrative power of your pen (or keyboard). You haven’t spent 8 or 9 hours a day for the past 25 years turning a blank computer screen into a 4,000-word article or a 60,000-word book. You probably don’t have an AMA Manual of Style holding down a stack of papers on your desk, Endnote reference database on your computer, and carpal tunnel from misusing a mouse for too many years.

I know this because I … Continue Reading

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Now THIS is a product I want to work on. . .

“Bloomberg News (11/20, Matsuyama) reports, “A spray-on treatment for premature ejaculation may prolong sexual intercourse by as much as five times.” In fact, the drug, known as PSD502, “delayed orgasm by an average of 108 seconds” after one month of treatment, according to a 256-patient trial conducted in Canada, Poland, and the US.”

Hey, a lot can happen in 2 minutes!

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The New Mammogram Recommendations

I have one word for those who are freaking out over the United States Preventive Services Task Force’s new mammogram recommendations suggesting that most women in their forties should not undergo  regular screening mammograms.

Chill.

Good lord! You would have thought the task force recommended witholding treatment from any women in her 40s who had breast cancer, or banned her from getting a mammogram, or threatened to jail any insurance company that had the nerve to pay for said mammograms.

Could we all please take a breath and look at the facts for a moment?

Fact. The USPSTF is just one of three major bodies (including the National Cancer Institute [NCI]  and the American Cancer Society [ACS]) that releases screening mammogram guidelines. The ACS has already said it has no plans to change its recommendation that women in their 40s have regular screening mammograms; the NCI is reviewing the data. Fact. The issue of mammograms for women in their 40s has been controversial for decades; the USPSTF has updated its recommendation based on new evidence. Fact. The USPSTF did NOT consider any economic data in making the new recommendation–only scientific data. Fact. What is appropriate for a large population … Continue Reading

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The check is in the . . . .

As one of my freelance friends recently noted on a Facebook post, the best days in a freelancer’s life are when the checks arrive. Lately, those days have been farther and farther apart.

This is the first year in 10 years of freelancing that I’ve actually woken up in the middle of the night worried about cash flow. The money is there–I’ve done the work and billed the invoices. But one large client went into Chapter 11 just as I was completing the first third of a major project. No worries, the editor assured me. All freelancers will be paid. Well, it took several calls and threats to stop work on the project before the second check finally arrived. Thankfully, the third check arrived with no problems.

Another client, a large professional medical organization, keeps “losing” my paperwork.

But the excuse that really makes me crazy is when I’m told that since my client’s client hasn’t paid them, they can’t pay me. Um, excuse me?

My contract is with you, not your client.  This is like me telling the guy currently painting my house that I can’t pay him for three months because my clients haven’t paid me. Imaging telling … Continue Reading

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