Health Communication for Medical Communicators
   

The AMWA health communication curriculum outline defines the subject of health communication as it relates to the work of medical communicators. The curriculum will guide development of education activities and resources to support these health communication competencies in medical communicators.

AMWA Health Communication Curriculum Outline
 

Basic principles of health communication: Audience and health literacy.  Learning Objective/Competency: Understand basic principles for all medical writers to create health communication, including audience, health literacy, health numeracy, visual health literacy, and importance of accessibility and inclusivity. 

Plan for the ideal user experience. Learning Objective/Competency: Consider audience and plan for the ideal user experience, including intentionality with deliverables and approaches that are inclusive and accessible.

Creating consistent content: Importance and strategies. Learning Objective/Competency: Recognize importance of creating consistent content within a library and strategies for management, including content lifecycles and best practices around accessibility and inclusivity.

Prioritization when developing health communication: How to identify as well as manage within a content’s lifecycle.  Learning Objective/Competency: Ability to prioritize content for development, delivery, accessibility, and use of feedback.

Copyediting and proofreading text, data, and images: Unique issues to health communication. Learning Objective/Competency: Apply proficiencies in copyediting and proofreading of text, data, and images, including how to provide and use feedback related to user accessibility and inclusivity.

Using health literacy tools and strategies in the workplace: Principles and practice across all settings. Learning Objective/Competency: Ability to communicate successfully with involved subject matter experts to create accurate, accessible, and inclusive health communication in all formats.

Ethical considerations and legal issues when creating health communication: Best practices. Learning Objective/Competency: Understand possible ethical and legal issues and acknowledge guidelines or recommendations, including those related to accessibility and inclusivity.

In Memory of Lori Alexander

In April 2023, the AMWA Board of Directors approved the AMWA Health Communication Curriculum Development Task Force. As part of AMWA’s Lori Alexander Legacy Recognition Initiative, the task force was charged with developing an AMWA Health Communication Course Curriculum. Lori was passionate about health literacy, plain language, and other health communication principles. In her many roles with AMWA, including member, leader, faculty member, presenter, president, and director of education, Lori  worked to ensure that health communication topics were included in AMWA education initiatives and programming.  Learn more about Lori's legacy.

The task force was charged with the following:

• Define the subject of Health Communication as it relates to the work of medical communicators.
• Create a content outline of topics reflective of the breadth of this curriculum.
• Develop a structure, organization, and timeline for individual courses as components of the overall curriculum.
• Ensure that health equity and disparities issues are guiding principles of this program.

Task Force Members

AMWA thanks the members of the Health Communication Curriculum Development Task Force for their efforts in creating the curriculum outlined above.

Larissa Biggers, MA, Senior Communications Specialist, Duke Health
Amber Boehm, PhD, Director of Editorial Services, Palladian Partners, Inc
Kelly Crowley, MWC, Director, Patient Education Content, Wolters Kluwer
Kimbra Edwards, PhD, Associate Director, CISCRP
Leila Emery, MA, Senior Medical Editor, RTI Health Solutions
Susan Krug, MS, CAE, Executive Director, AMWA
Geri Metzger, BS, Senior Content Manager, WebMD Ignite
Helen Osborne, M.Ed., OTR/L, President, Health Literacy Consulting
Kelly Pincus, PharmD, Sr. Director/Head, Medical Communications & Scientific Training, GSK
Liz Proper, MA, Managing Editor, Mayo Clinic Health Education & Content Services (Co-Chair)
Ben Riggs, BA, Senior Communications Specialist, Kettering Health
Sarah Stone, MPH, Freelance Health Writer & Editor, Health Literacy Consultant
Genevieve Walker, PhD, Independent Writer, Patient Education, Bridge Health Communications
Deb Whippen, BA, President, Editorial RX (Co-Chair)

Explore AMWA Online Learning 

AMWA's expansive library of online learning activities includes many topics within the health communication curriculum and programs are regularly added to the library to meet the needs of professional medical communicators. Some health communication activity titles include

• Beyond Clickbait: How Science Writers Can Reclaim the Narrative and Fight the Pseudoscience Plague
• The Medical Writer’s Role in Leading DEI Efforts in Protocols, Informed Consent Forms, and Diversity Plans
• Three Perspectives, One Purpose: Why Medicine Needs Memoir
• Communicating Science and Medicine on Social Media