A medical content writer is someone who writes and edits content relevant to medicine and healthcare. This content can be aimed at regulators, insurers, healthcare professionals, patients, or the general public. Thus, the key role of medical writers is to present complex scientific information in a manner that suits the level and requirements of the target audience.

The various roles of medical content writers can include:

• Writing research grant proposals
• Writing up research results for peer-reviewed medical or scientific publications
• Generating stakeholder reports and advisory board summaries
• Compiling regulatory documents for new product approval according to company, regulatory, and International Council for Harmonization (ICH) guidelines
• Creating marketing material to promote medical products or services to health professionals or the public, such as product brochures, white papers, case studies, infographics, press releases, and product sheets
• Writing informative, engaging, and SEO-optimized digital content, including web pages, mobile apps, podcasts, animations and videos, slide sets, social media posts, blog posts, and emailed newsletters
• Writing health education materials such as disease-related literature, medical books, and patient decision aids
• Producing content for healthcare websites, health magazines, or news outlets
• Creating abstracts, posters, and slide presentations for medical conferences
• Creating advertisements for pharmaceuticals, devices, and other products
• Drawing up healthcare policy documents
• Collaborating with medical doctors, regulators, engineers, scientists, and other subject matter experts to prepare content
• Conducting background/supporting research using literature and other database searches
• Working effectively with document management systems and related tools and templates
• Contributing to the design and maintenance of templates/standards for different types of medical content
• Ensuring a consistent writing style and presentation format that adheres to standard operating procedures (SOP), good publication practice (GPP), and other relevant publication guidelines
• Assisting at a higher level by helping companies develop a content planning strategy, content distribution strategy, and/or managing a team of junior medical writers

Experts in medical communications will typically have several years of experience in the field and will usually hold a PharmD, MD, or Master’s or Ph.D. degree in an allied scientific or communications field. Many will be affiliated with the professional association relevant to their region, such as the European Medical Writers Association (EMWA) or the American Medical Writers Association (AMWA). These experts will have deep knowledge of their chosen area, the regulatory framework where relevant, and international guidelines pertaining to medical writing.

Medical content writers work either as freelance contractors or for contract research organizations (CROs), medical device or pharmaceutical companies, communications or marketing agencies, regulatory and governmental agencies, medical consultancies, publishers, and news outlets. The job titles of medical writing experts vary and can include Associate Medical Writer, Healthcare Journalist, Principal Medical Writer, and Regulatory Writer. While some may be generalists, others may specialize as e.g., complementary medicine or cardiology writers.

To hire a freelance medical writer, the fee generally ranges from 40−150 USD per hour depending on the required skillset and the level of experience necessary.

The hourly fee can be negotiated upfront based on the estimated number of project hours, or a flat fee (for projects of a defined scope) can be discussed. If you need short-term/temporary access to these specialists, then hiring a freelance medical communications expert on our platform is a convenient and cost-effective way to collaborate with these professionals.

The best way to attract the top Kolabtree freelancers in this field is to make your project description informative. You will need to provide information on the following:

• Skills required (e.g., expertise in digital healthcare writing)
• What the project area is (e.g., online patient education)
• What the project entails (e.g., development of interactive educational materials regarding medical devices)
• What the deliverables are (be specific about what you need the outputs to be)
• Duration of the project (provide an estimate of how many hours work you will need per week/by when you need the project to be completed)
• By when you need to hire (having more leeway on this will give you more time to choose the best expert for your needs)
• Your budget (per hour or fixed fee)

If you are unsure what exactly is required, providing as much detail as possible will allow the experts to still make an informed bid for your project and suggest the best routes forward.

Our platform makes it easier than ever before to connect and collaborate with medical content writers.