MEMBERS AREA MEMBERS AREA

RESOURCES 

A repository of websites and courses for medical communicators

COVID-19 

The COVID-19 Vaccine Communication Handbook: A practical guide for improving vaccine communication and fighting miscommunication

Developed by a team of scientific experts, this guide aims to arm people with practical tips and provide up-to-date information and evidence to talk reliably about the vaccines, reduce fear and constructively challenge associated myths.

COVID-19: An informative guide. Advice for Journalists

Developed by the WHO Regional Office for Europe to offer tools to help the media play their role in the COVID-19 pandemic response through accurate, ethical and responsible reporting.

Education and qualifications

Postgraduate university courses in health communication:

Undergraduate blended degree:

 

Short courses can help writers upskill in specific areas including editing, consumer health writing, freelance writing, magazine writing and technical writing


Science Journalism

WFSJ

A free online course for budding science writers and journalists, developed by a team of 35 writers and editors.

LEARN MORE LEARN MORE



Copy Writing and more

Australian Writers Centre





LEARN MORE LEARN MORE

Fundamentals of Technical Writing

University of Western Australia




LEARN MORE LEARN MORE

Journalism, Editing & Publishing

Australian College




LEARN MORE LEARN MORE

Copyediting Course

Capstone Editing

Learn how to perform comprehensive, high-quality copyediting of corporate, government and academic documents such as, postgraduate essays, theses, journal articles and manuscripts.

LEARN MORE LEARN MORE

Understanding Medical Research: Your Facebook Friend is Wrong

Yale University via Coursera

Learn to critically evaluation of medical research, read and understand statistical figures, charts, and graphics and how to verify claims made in news articles.

LEARN MORE LEARN MORE

AMWA Professional Development Program

Australasian Medical Writers Association
Offers a wide selection of high-quality workshops in the areas of medical writing, editing, public relations, web design and a variety of topical issues.

LEARN MORE LEARN MORE

Successful Science Writing and Editing

Biotext

Learn how to make complex information easy to read and understand, and how to use editing skills to improve your own and other people’s work.



LEARN MORE LEARN MORE


Readability tools

These tools help ensure your writing is easy to understand:

Simple Measure of Gobbledygook (SMOG)

Assesses the readability of your prose




LEARN MORE LEARN MORE


Gunning's Fog Index (FOG)

Calculates the Gunning Fog Index  – a weighted average of the number of words per sentence, and the number of long words per word.

LEARN MORE LEARN MORE

The Up-Goer Five Text Editor

Assists in communicating complex concepts and ideas in simple language.



LEARN MORE LEARN MORE

Patient Education Materials Assessment Tool (PEMAT) and User's Guide

Helps you assess how understandable and actionable print and audiovisual patient education materials are.

LEARN MORE LEARN MORE


Plain Language Summary Toolkit

Envision Pharma Group has developed a best-practice resource for PLS of peer-reviewed publications and congress abstracts.



LEARN MORE LEARN MORE

The EAST Framework for Behaviour Change 

Four simple ways to apply behavioural insights.




LEARN MORE LEARN MORE



Medical writing career resources

From academic to medical writer

A guide to getting started in medical communications.




LEARN MORE LEARN MORE



MedCommsNetworking

Networking and dialogue amongst professionals working in medcomms.





LEARN MORE LEARN MORE

Science communication toolkit

Practical tools developed by experts to help science communicators, researchers, journalists and policy makers add quality, impact and influence to their science engagement activities.

LEARN MORE LEARN MORE

Health Writer Hub

Blogs, short online health writing courses and free resources for health writers.

LEARN MORE LEARN MORE

.

Ragan's Healthcare blog

News in healthcare social media, marketing and communications.

LEARN MORE LEARN MORE

Codes of conduct, guidelines and style and grammar resources

Code of Conduct, Medicines Australia



LEARN MORE LEARN MORE

Therapeutic Goods Administration Advertising Guidelines


LEARN MORE LEARN MORE

Therapeutic Guidelines Series




 
LEARN MORE LEARN MORE

Cambridge Guide to Australian English Usage



 
LEARN MORE LEARN MORE

AMWA Manual of Style





LEARN MORE LEARN MORE

 

Scientific Style and Format: the CSE Style Manual for Authors, Editors and Publishers

LEARN MORE LEARN MORE

Australian Manual of Scientific Style

 




LEARN MORE LEARN MORE

Australian Government Style Manual 2020




LEARN MORE LEARN MORE

 

Accessing journals

PubMed

Archive of medical journal literature with links to the full-text sources

LEARN MORE LEARN MORE


Unpaywall

Unpaywall is a legal, open-source database that allows you to access free scholarly articles

LEARN MORE LEARN MORE


Health reporting


Cancer

Cancer Institute NSW guidelines for writing about cancer





LEARN MORE LEARN MORE

Mental health issues

Mindframe's guidelines for communicating about mental health issues, including suicide and alcohol and other drugs



LEARN MORE LEARN MORE


Alcohol & drug addiction

Independent A.O.D Media Watch guidelines for journalists reporting on alcohol and other drugs to reduce stigma, minimise harm and improve accurate reporting

LEARN MORE LEARN MORE


Diabetes

Position statement from Diabetes Australia on improving communication with and about people with diabetes




LEARN MORE LEARN MORE


Dementia

Guidelines developed by Dementia Australia, for talking or writing about dementia and people living with dementia




LEARN MORE LEARN MORE


Eating disorders

Guidelines developed by Mindframe and the National Eating Disorders Collaboration for reporting on eating disorders




LEARN MORE LEARN MORE

Disability 

Guidelines developed by Disability Australia for portraying people with disability 




LEARN MORE LEARN MORE


Reporting on medicines 

Tips to help journalists accurately and responsibly reflect independent, reliable evidence in their writing and reporting on medicines, medical tests and treatments.

LEARN MORE LEARN MORE


Medical Writing Associations



In discussion with Dr Ben Bravery - 9 February 2023 in Sydney

You are invited to hear from Dr Ben Bravery, the author of 'The Patient Doctor', on Thursday 9 February 2023 from 6pm - 8pm. This event is hosted by the Australasian Medical Writers' Association and is open to all.

Ben will be talking about his experience as a cancer patient, and how this has impacted how he now interacts with the healthcare system as a doctor. Ben is a strong advocate for putting the patient at the heart of healthcare. This event will also be an opportunity to network and socialise with medical writers.

Read more Read more