Writing a clinical study report?

So, this is my first post for a brand new year! Although it's already two weeks into 2011, but better late than never! ;)

Anyway, work has been busy with lots of writing assignments in the office, one after another. And amidst my already tight assignment deadlines in the office in the last couple of months of 2010, I had also faced tight deadlines after work - a freelance clinical study report (CSR) project for a drug company.

I had no experience in writing CSR in my previous job as a medical writer, so that was my first time. Thankfully, it was a small clinical study and results were pretty straightforward to interpret, and a standard template was provided for my reference.

However, for a medical writer who has not written a clinical study report before, it still appears as a daunting task, and I started to look around for information to assist me in this project. If you are a freelance medical writer interested in getting clinical study report projects or about to embark on one, here are three resources that may be of great help to you:

1. Efficacy guidelines from ICH - Here you'll find a list of guidelines to writing various regulatory documents pertaining to clinical studies, e.g. CSRs, clinical trials, good clinical practice, dose-response studies, etc. The guidelines are available in downloadable PDF format.

2. 48 Things Medical Writers Need for Clinical Study Reports (CSRs) - If you're wondering what information you need to acquire from your client before you can start writing a CSR, visit this blog belonging to an experienced medical writer, Susan Caldwell. In that particular post, you are given a list of things required to help you draft a clinical study report. Without having all the necessary information at hand before you begin writing, the writing process may be delayed as you would have to keep going back to your client to request for the missing information.

3. Targeted Regulatory Writing Techniques: Clinical Documents for Drugs and Biologics 

- As I was searching for a guidebook to help me prepare the CSR, I came across this book from Amazon. The book is useful for those who writes regulatory documents for the biopharmaceutical industry. It covers not only CSRs, but also on writing clinical study protocols, investigator's brochure, product dossiers, patient informed consent form, etc. The book also includes samples of clinical protocol synopsis, clinical protocol signature page, informed consent form and more. Basically, it covers all documents needed right from the preparation of a clinical study to submitting its report.

Get this book from Amazon now and save 10%!

I didn't buy the book because, firstly, it is not available in my local bookstores, and secondly, I'm not sure if there will be a second CSR project for me. But I definitely will keep this book in mind for future reference.

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How to become a freelance writer?

Okay, my last post was written 4 months ago. As usual, my wrong. Working as a full-time health writer is definitely more hectic than the life of a freelance medical writer. :)

I still take in freelance writing projects occasionally, but it's not a necessity anymore for me to make a living. Of course, it's always good to have double income, right?

If you think you have the flair and skills for writing, and have been aspired to become a writer yourself (not necessarily in the fields of health and medicine), BUT you just lack the opportunity or training to really become one, perhaps you can take your first step by being a freelance writer.

How to become a freelance writer if you don't know of anyone who works in publishing company? Well, nowadays you have internet, you can actually search for writing jobs online!

Many online freelance writing jobs are simple writing tasks, such as writing a movie review for a blog, proofreading simple documents or writing a short opinion about a skincare product. As long as you can write decent articles with correct grammar and spelling, you can make money writing articles, from being a website content writer to press release writer.

The main advantage of such online writing jobs is that you are able to work on it from home on a part-time or full-time basis. Of course, you may also find it cool to tell people that you actually make money from writing online. ;)

To find yourself online freelance writing jobs with topics you're interested in, you may check out this website RealWritingJobs.com. I have no experience using their service, but I think it's worth checking out.

Happy freelancing! :)

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