Medical writing jobs have a lot to offer in terms of monetary benefits as well as the flexibility of working from home if you can meet the internal demands regarding quality and timelines. Medical writing is primarily divided into two segments – Scientific and Medico-Marketing. Scientific medical writing deals with writing about the changing concepts in the field of medicine be it new drugs, advent in technology in form of research papers, newspaper snippets, drug manuals and safety brochures to name a few. A large number of scientific editing  companies associated with pharmaceutical/ biotechnological and even academic organization require professionals: to edit and/or re edit and/or re-write scientific papers , educate and train staff in scientific writing and editing writing thus opening various avenues which cease to exist for individuals elsewhere. Medico-Marketing medical writing primarily deals with promotion and advertisement of the new technology, drug or concept.

Scientific medical writers are primarily associated with medicine or allied medicine with either an undergraduate or postgraduate degree in any of life science such as medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, pharmacology, nursing, biotechnology, etc., with a keen bent towards writing articles which are precise, well researched with intelligible flow of ideas. Merging; technical skills of medicine with rhetorical skills in language.
It is commonly seen that a lot of undergraduates apply for a similar job and with an aptitude and right direction can do wonders as its not necessarily a cake walk for the post graduates. Postgraduates are commonly preferred  however if you have done a course in technical writing it gives you an upper edge over a large majority of individuals due to rigorous practical training provided by institutes such as James Lind institute which give you an in-depth knowledge regarding the industry, the challenges and the working style. Medical writing is primarily deadline oriented as you have vast amount of work which is never ending. Hence, it has to be kept in mind that you have to be on your toes so that your work doesn’t lag. It is highly important to build skills ,make contacts/network  and pursue formal training to develop a basic understanding regarding organizational guidelines, software skills as well as form a network or database which provides you access to varied amount of research and qualified professionals to propel your career.

How to propel your career as a Medical writer?

James Lind Institute (JLI) provides intensive training programs for professionals who would like to opt for the surging opportunities as a medical writer. Pharmaceutical companies, contract research organizations (CROs), BPOs, publication houses, news portals and others are looking for professionals with scientific expertise to regulate, draft and format medical documents as per their target needs. JLI offers focused online courses which are convenient for professionals presently employed at various other sectors by providing extensive medical writing training to develop expertise of high caliber in the field of medical and scientific writing.