Medical Writer Job Description, Key Duties and Responsibilities

By | July 15, 2023
Medical writer job description
Medical writers are responsible for bringing medical information to the general public.

This post provides detailed information on the medical writer job description, to help you understand the work they do.

It highlights the key duties, tasks, and responsibilities that usually make up the medical writer work description.

It also presents the major requirements you will be expected to meet to be hired for the medical writer role by most employers/recruiters.

What Does a Medical Writer Do?

The medical writer job description entails preparing manuals and manuscripts, and ensuring that adequate quality and plagiarism free content is achieved.

It also involves designing a cover for clients’ manuscript or book and ensuring that manuscripts meet clients’ requirements.

A medical writer makes sure that all components of the book have been read and approved from the client by signing off any changes by them.

It is the writer’s duty to ensure that every step of preparing a manuscript is within pre-agreed time frame from initial contact to final publication of the product or manuscript in print or electronic format, (eBook).

In this role, you have to ensure that clients’ files are backed up regularly.

The medical writer has a duty to accurately convey information from clients to the general public.

They are to ensure a variety of text styles and document formats to meet all requirements of the client in conjunction with their own design requirements, which the client may not be clear about at first.

Medical writers make sure a variety of topics are covered and the client’s specific requirements are met.

More on Medical Writer Job Description

The medical writer is also responsible for designing different types of text styles, document formats, and designs, to meet the needs of his/her client.

A key part of their job is to provide a cost-effective solution to clients’ problems.

The medical writer is in charge of maintaining relationships with existing clients individually.

They handle enquiries efficiently, and continue to develop these relationships further with more business opportunities for the company.

The medical writer job description also involves developing profitable income channels with their own client base and work towards establishing more sales opportunities.

This helps to increase profit margin ratios within their market sector or field of expertise at large scale levels, (eBook).

It also includes ensuring that content of the book or manuscript does not violate any copyright laws.

Medical Writer Job Description Sample/Example/Template

The medical writer job description consists of the following duties, tasks, and responsibilities:

  • Prepares written content for various types of publications
  • Ensures that all components of the manuscript are read and approved from the client by signing off any changes by them
  • Reviews the material submitted by the writer to ensure it is accurate and meets the client’s requirements
  • Ensures that all pages of each section have been checked for consistency with others in terms of layout, typeface, font size, and font color
  • Makes sure that a variety of text styles, document formats, and designs meet the needs of their clients on a regular basis throughout their publishing life cycle
  • Prepares a number of different types of content with a variable number of sections across all document formats to meet their client’s needs
  • Ensures that content of the book or manuscript does not violate copyright laws
  • Makes sure that text styles and document formats conform to the client’s requirements, and ensures consistent style throughout the entire manuscript
  • Provides a cost-effective solution to clients’ problems
  • Ensures that the manuscript is up to date and current with recent research and developments in their choice of market sector
  • Makes sure that content of the book or manuscript does not violate any copyright laws
  • Produces well written, technical text for a variety of audiences, which may include doctors, nurses, medical nurses, medical students, and members of the general public.

Medical Writer Job Description for Resume

If you have worked before as a medical writer or are currently working in that role and are making a new resume or CV, you can show that work experience in the Professional Experience part of your resume to boost your chances of being hired.

You can apply the sample medical writer job description provided above in making a compelling Professional Experience section for your resume by highlighting the duties and responsibilities of the job that it contains in your resume’s Professional Experience.

This will show to recruiters/employers that you have been successful performing the medical writer’s job, which can enhance your chances of being hired for the new position, especially if the new job that you are seeking requires someone with some medical writer work experience.

Medical Writer Requirements: Skills, Knowledge, and Abilities for Career Success

If you are seeking to work as a medical writer, here are major requirements you may be expected to fulfill to be hired:

  • A working or demonstrable knowledge of medical terminology
  • An excellent command of English spelling, grammar and punctuation for written text and document design/layout purposes
  • Demonstrates excellent written communication skills, with a clear understanding of the client’s objectives from their viewpoint to produce high quality content that meets the criteria set by them in terms of market sector, targeting audience and level of technicality
  • Being able to meet tight deadlines for completion within the publishing life cycle
  • Demonstrate ability to effectively communicate with clients on a regular basis throughout the publishing life cycle
  • Ability to work independently from home or from the office
  • Possess strong ability to delegate work schedules so that all deadlines are met for completion
  • Profound ability to co-ordinate the writing of medical documents and produce text styles, document formats and designs for a variety of different types of documents in terms of style, format, and design principles within the market sector
  • Ability to work as part of an international team of writers
  • Excellent in delivering quality medical content to a high standard based on the provided brief, with excellent knowledge and understanding in terms of clients’ needs in their chosen field or industry at large
  • Ability to write high quality content that is factually accurate, grammatically correct, clear, concise, and consistent with spelling, grammar, and punctuation rules.

Medical Writer Salary

According to salary.com, the average medical writer income in the United States is $77,723 as of April 26, 2022.

Conclusion

Medical writers play a crucial role in almost all medical writing projects.

They are the key to bringing medical information to the general public and providing them with the knowledge they need to make informed decisions about their health care.

Medical writers must have excellent communication skills and be able to transfer complex medical information in a clear, logical manner.

This post is helpful to individuals seeking the medical writer career, to learn all they need to know about what the role does.

It is also useful to recruiters/employers in making a detailed job description for the medical writer position in their organizations, which they can apply in the recruitment process for the position.