Article Writing - Five Tips For Writing Great Medical Articles

Whether you are writing medical articles for patient brochures, blogs or article submissions, it is very important to ensure that the medical content in your article is accurate, and of a high quality. Albert Einstein once said that, "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. So is a lot". If you wish to write medical content, you need to follow this advice to the hilt, as what you say or don't say, may cause people more harm than good.

Below are some tips to help you write high-quality medical articles:

1. Be careful about stating facts: Doctors and other medical professionals know that medical knowledge constantly changes due to advancements in new technology. It is crucial for lay writers to also understand the same, and be very careful about stating anything as an irreversible medical fact, while writing health-related articles. Many readers think that medical articles are written by medical experts, and do not understand that details may vary according to a particular case. This may result in them blindly following clearly-stated online medical advice, without consulting a medical practitioner, about their individual case.


2. Use proper terminology: Use the scientific or recognised medical name to describe a disease/drug, rather than a lay term, when you first mention it in your medical article. This medical name should be the word most commonly used in recently published, high-quality English content. You can use lay terms or alternative names later on, to help your readers understand the content better. This is even if you are writing medical articles for search engine optimisation purposes. One good source of disease names is WHO's International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems.


3. Use ambiguous parts of speech: If you are not sure about a medical fact, even after conducting research using authentic sources of information, use ambiguous parts of speech (adverbs, nouns etc.) to describe that fact. For example, if three medical sources state different time periods (three months, five months, seven months) for dental implants to fuse with the jawbone, you can write 'In most cases, titanium implants generally take around three to seven months to osseointegrate with the bone'.


4. Conduct online research carefully: As accuracy is fundamental in any medical article, you should conduct research only from reliable websites, such as those sponsored by educational institutions, medical organisations or governments. Some good sources for medical articles are the US National Library of Medicine and The American Medical Association. Another good online source is The Web MD, even though it is not a professional medical association website. Avoid using Wikipedia or other doubtful websites that constantly pop up in the top positions of search engine results.


5. Include a disclaimer: As legal action can sometimes be taken regarding medical content posted on a website, it is always important to include a prominent disclaimer telling readers that you are not a medical expert. This disclaimer is in addition to the legal disclaimer, generally displayed by medical practices on their website. For example: "The writer of this article is not a medical professional. Information contained herein has been collected from sources believed to be reliable, and every precaution has been taken to ensure its accuracy. The information provided here is for general informational purposes only, and should not be used as a substitute for professional medical care.

Of course, if you want great medical articles without any hassle, you could always hire a professional medical writing company, like StarEdits.com, to help you out. The specialised content writers at StarEdits have loads of experience in writing high quality medical articles, and are sure to do an awesome job for you.

Denize Rodricks is Senior Copy Editor at StarEdits Web inc.