Guest post by Alexandra Howson PhD, CHCP
Medical writing encompasses various career paths for writers working with pharmaceutical and healthcare clients. This blog introduces BB readers to a different branch of the field—Continuing Medical Education (CME)—as a potential career option for medical writers interested in writing education materials for clinicians.
Introduction
Are you a freelance medical writer looking for a rewarding niche? As host of the Write Medicine podcast and a veteran of the continuing medical education (CME) field, I’m often asked how freelance medical writers can break into this unique and rewarding area of medical communications. After almost 20 years as a freelance CME writer I’ve gathered some insights to guide your path into CME writing.
CME is often used interchangeably with continuing education (CE) and continuing professional development (CPD). However, there are key differences. CME specifically refers to education for physicians. CE refers to education for all types of healthcare professionals, including nurses, pharmacists, physician associates and more, and CPD involves ongoing professional development for health professionals.
I’m using CE in this blog, but much of what I’ll discuss applies to all CME, CE, and CPD.
What is CE?
First, what is CE? CE is a dynamic and evolving field dedicated to the ongoing education and lifelong learning of health professionals. Over the past two decades accredited CE has evolved from a mandatory box-ticking exercise into a valuable tool for professional growth and improved patient care. CE maintains, builds, and enhances the knowledge, skills, and professional performance of clinicians, serving as a crucial bridge between the latest medical, health care, and health policy advancements and their practical application in healthcare settings.
While non-accredited medical education focuses mostly on educating healthcare providers about disease states and therapies, the overall goal of accredited CE is to drive measurable outcomes, such as positive changes in clinician behavior and improved patient care.
To this end, CE is learner-centric, problem-oriented, and addresses real-world clinical challenges. Learner-centric, problem-oriented CE also leads to better engagement, improved knowledge retention, and most importantly, a greater likelihood of clinical practice and behavior change. When learners see the direct relevance of the education to their daily practice, they are more motivated to engage deeply with the content and apply what they have learned to clinical practice.
Education providers use various formats to create impactful learning experiences for clinicians, including interactive case studies, simulations, practice-based initiatives, and even community-oriented programs.
So, where do medical writers fit into the CE ecosystem?
What is the Scope of Work for CE Medical Writers?
All CE formats require accurate, accessible, evidence-based educational content that engages learners and supports learning. Medical writers are instrumental in developing this content.
Tasks associated with CE deliverables include:
- Conducting literature reviews
- Building interactive patient cases
- Developing and refining learning objectives
- Crafting outcomes reports and white papers
- Identifying clinical performance practice gaps
- Distilling complex research into accessible narratives
- Improving faculty-generated slide decks and presentations
Understanding adult learning principles and the learner audience is crucial for creating impactful CE content. It’s not enough to know your audience’s specialty or level of experience. As a CE writer you need to understand the day-to-day workflow of clinicians, the challenges they face in clinical practice, and their clinical practice context (e.g., community practice vs. academic medical centers).
All CE content starts with a thorough needs assessment, a process that includes not only a synthesis of current clinical literature, but also surveys, interviews with clinicians, and, vitally, analysis of clinical and performance practice gaps. The goal is to identify the specific challenges and learning needs of the target audience. Effective CE addresses real-world scenarios via case studies and clinical vignettes that reflect situations learners encounter in their practice. It’s vital to design these to be as authentic as possible by including common complexities and challenges that clinicians encounter in the clinic.
Writers also incorporate interactive elements that allow learners to apply new knowledge to solve problems, such as case-based questions or decision-making scenarios. Finally, it’s helpful to point learners to practical tools they can immediately implement in their practice, such as decision algorithms, patient education materials, or communication scripts.
While writers with research proficiency and expertise in adult learning principles are in high demand in this field, education providers often say they struggle to find skilled writers who understand the accredited CE landscape. You can stand out by familiarizing yourself with typical CE formats and deliverables, how to apply adult learning principles to text-based content, and learning about the outcomes frameworks that education providers typically use to evaluate learning and behavior change.
What are the Differences in the US, Europe, and the UK?
As a writer, you should also be somewhat familiar with what accreditation is and why it is important. Briefly, the US accredited CME system is governed by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME). ACCME creates criteria and maintains standards for accredited CME to ensure content is independent from the commercial interests of pharmaceutical companies. Other accrediting bodies do the same for pharmacists, nurses, physician associates and other health professionals. Organizations that develop CE content, such as medical societies, publishers, and medical education companies must continuously meet these standards to be considered accredited education providers.
In Europe, multiple organizations award accreditation on an activity-by-activity basis rather than to education providers. Another key difference pertains to the relationship between funding sources for content development. While education funding and accredited content development are strictly separated in the US, they are more intertwined in some European contexts. For instance, medical communications agencies in the UK and in Europe are often involved in creating both accredited CME content and promotional content.
New regulations like EACCME 3.0 are designed to address this blurred relationship between independent education and commercial interests. However, in the UK, the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry takes the view that the pharmaceutical industry should have full control over its medical information, even in education contexts.
As a CME writer, staying informed about the specific requirements of different European markets will be crucial for your success.
Steps to Break into CE Writing
In addition to building skills such as attention to detail and problem-solving, here are some steps to help you break into CE writing.
- Understand the CE Landscape: In the US, CE is heavily regulated and focused on independence from commercial influence. Familiarize yourself with accreditation standards as the foundation for creating compliant content.
- Master Adult Learning Principles: CE is rooted in adult learning theory. Apply principles of self-direction, experience, relevance, problem-orientation, and motivation to guide your content development.
- Learn About Outcome Measurement: Most education providers use Moore’s outcomes framework to assess and evaluate education impact. Understanding how CE effectiveness is measured will help you create more impactful content.
- Know Your Learners: One of the most valuable lessons I’ve learned is the importance of truly understanding your audience. It’s not just about their medical knowledge – you need to grasp the workflow, roles, and context in which different health professionals work.
- Hone Your Evidence-Based Writing Skills: All CE content must be impeccably sourced and synthesized from high-quality evidence such as peer-reviewed literature, data from clinical trials, clinical practice guidelines, and quality performance indicators.
- Network with CME Providers: Many medical education companies hire freelance writers. Research these companies and try to make connections in the industry.
The Rewards of CME Writing
The rewards for CME writers are significant. There’s nothing quite like knowing your work is directly contributing to improved patient outcomes and quality of care. I still get a thrill when I see clinicians engage with and learn from content I’ve helped create.
As you develop your skills in CME writing, always keep the learner and their real-world challenges at the forefront of your mind. By creating content that directly addresses the problems clinicians face, you’ll be contributing to education that makes a tangible difference in healthcare delivery and patient outcomes.
Bio
Alexandra Howson PhD, CHCP hosts the Write Medicine podcast and runs WriteCME Pro, a professional development membership for medical writers ready to specialize in CME. Her new book, WriteCME Roadmap: How to Thrive in CME with No Experience, No Network, and No Clue (Tilt Publishing) is available October 31, 2024.
