Professional Diploma in Medical Writing

Medical writing is a specialization that has gained momentum over the last few years. For those who like writing, it is an exciting, creative and satisfying career option. Medical and scientific writing involves writing manuscripts required by the medical / scientific fraternity and the pharma-biotech industry including clinical research. Two key domains in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sector where medical writers are in high demand are pharmaceutical regulatory writing and promotional material writing i.e. Medico-marketing writing.

The main role of medical writers is to create well written documents and manuscripts as per standard formats, compliant to regulatory standards for approval of new clinical trials, drugs, medical devices and biologics.

  
In a way, the medical writing profession dominates the drug development sector by contributing towards the preparation of crucial documents mandatory for regulatory approvals. Some common documents created by medical writers in the pharmaceutical / clinical research industry are clinical trial reports, clinical trial protocols, investigator brochures, product package inserts etc. The two ends of medical writing i.e. regulatory writing and medico-marketing writing are both challenging and demanding in their own ways. While the regulatory writing focuses on writing documents for regulatory agencies, in contrast, medico-marketing writing has a much larger and varied audience ranging from qualified doctors to general public. Some common activities conducted in both these spectrum's are shown in the figure above.

With the sustained growth of the pharmaceutical research and development sector a number of business models have come into existence to provide specialized services such as Contract Research Organizations (CROs), early phase CROs, Site Management Organizations (SMOs), and companies offering fewer but specialized services such as Pharmacovigilance, Medical Writing etc. This growth has eventually amplified the demand for trained medical writers in the industry.

We at James Lind Institute, strive to develop medical writing professionals who are equipped with the most appropriate knowledge and skills. This online medical writing training program provides you with a thorough understanding of the important aspects of medical writing thus boosting your skills and knowledge to the level expected of a medical and scientific writer. It provides extensive medical writing training to develop professional expertise of high calibre.

MODULE 01: GENERAL INTRODUCTION
MODULE 02: EPIDEMIOLOGY AND EBM
MODULE 03: PHARMACEUTICAL MEDICINE
MODULE 04: BASICS OF GOOD MEDICAL WRITING
MODULE 05: COMPUTER SKILLS
MODULE 06: OVERVIEW OF THE REGULATORY, MARKETING AND DRUG PROMOTION PROCESSES
MODULE 07: COMMON TECHNICAL DOCUMENT
MODULE 08: PROTOCOL, INVESTIGATOR’s BROCHURE & CASE REPORT FORMS
MODULE 09: CLINICAL STUDY REPORT
MODULE 10: SENTENCE CONTROL
MODULE 11: WRITING FLOW AND COHESIVENESS
MODULE 12: PUBLICATION WRITING
MODULE 13: DOCUMENTS IN MEDICO-MARKETING
MODULE 14: MANAGING THE REVIEW PROCESS

TOTAL CREDITS: 18

MODE OF STUDY: ONLINE

The curriculum for the program - Professional Diploma in Medical Writing (PDMW) is extensive, however, it is more suitable for entry-level professionals or those who wish to make a move to medical / scientific writing from any other related sector.

You will be assessed on an ongoing basis by the faculty based on the following criteria:

One is the completion of the online multiple choice question tests that follow each lesson; and second is the timely submission of assignments for each study module within the JLI e-Campus.

Your academic performance in the program will be assessed on a 4 point GPA scale. More details about our evaluation system is available in the following link: Evaluation System

The minimum eligibility criteria for Professional Diploma in Medical Writing (PDMW) would include either of the following:

- Any degree in Bioscience/Life Sciences such as Biochemistry, Microbiology, Genetics, Biotechnology, Botany, Zoology etc
- Any degree in Medicine such as MBBS, BDS, BPT, BAMS, BHMS, BUMS etc
- Any degree in Pharmacy / Pharmaceutical Sciences
- Any degree in Chemistry / Biostatistics / Bioinformatics
- Any degree in Nursing / Allied Health
- Any degree in English Language
- Students in their final year of graduation for the above courses are also eligible to apply.

If you lack the above mentioned educational prerequisite you may still be eligible to apply if you have some prior work experience in medical or scientific writing. Please contact our admission representatives / counsellor to discuss your case.

As a student you can interact online with the faculty members and fellow students to network and to discuss important topics via your e-Campus. The faculty promptly answers all questions related to the study in the Online Campus Tutoring Center (OCTC).
Towards the end of the program you will be provided placement assistance if required and career development support via the “Student Success Team”.
In addition, each participant registered in the Professional Diploma in Medical Writing Course is provided with a mentor who is an experienced professional from the clinical research industry. The mentor can be contacted at any time via email or phone.