A majority of medical writing students are pre-med, pre-pharma or nursing students. The class focuses on how the media portrays the medical field (are all doctors heroes? pharmaceutical companies villains?) and students learn to analyze stories for bias, jargon and accuracy. They learn to think about all the messaging the public receives about health throughout the day, and report on if that information is helpful and truthful.
Above, medical writing students prepare to enter the cadaver lab.
Although most are not journalism minors, they interview both patients and medical experts. They practice writing study stories and research public data. We also visit a local medical school’s cadaver lab, where students work directly with several bodies. The goal is for them to understand the complexity of the body and why it is so important to provide accurate information to the public.
Syllabus and course schedule (2017) Syllabus and course schedule (2022) Pictures of Health - Instructions Pictures of health - Assignment Student interview example (video) News analysis assignment Study story directions - Instructions Study story example 1 - Assignment Study Story Example 2 - Assignment Medical Q and A example Medical Q and A example 2 Final Story Example