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October 2012
  Issue #37

Are You Wasting Your Time! 

 

We don't like to waste our time, do you? That's why we're always looking for new ways to become more efficient and productive. Time is without a doubt the most valuable--and costly--resource we have as freelances. Lost time can be frustrating since it prevents us from reaching our goals and completing high-priority tasks.

 

The famous 19th century Italian economist, Pareto, observed that people spend most of their time engaged in minor, unimportant tasks. In his Pareto Principle he postulated that we spend 80% of our time doing activities that contribute to only 20% of the result. With that in mind, this issue of Pencil Points focuses on ways to work smarter, not harder. We want to show you how to use the 80/20 principle to achieve more with less effort, time, and resources.

In [Not] Just For Newbies we highlight the benefits of using curated social media content, which eliminates the need for you to wade through all the social media noise to find what you're looking for. We provide additional advice on how to make the most of your time in The Savvy Marketer, where we offer tips on social media marketing. And if you're as concerned as we are about the health effects of spending too much time sitting in front of a computer, then don't miss Dollars & Sense. It could be hazardous to your health! Finally, in On The Radar we review an online learning platform that enables you to take free classes, including several taught through schools of medicine like the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

We are all alike in one way. Each of us wakes up every morning with 24 hours; that's 1,440 minutes or 86,400 seconds to accomplish everything we want and need to do. The people who get the most done seem to be those who manage time rather than letting time manage them. Into which group do you fit?  

   

Wishing you writing success,


Cyndy and Brian
 Newbies[NOT] JUST FOR NEWBIES
Information and Inspiration for New and Experienced Writers 

Save Time Using Curated Web Content

 

When it comes to medical and health content, there's no question that many good medical websites exist that provide balanced and correct information. In contrast, social media channels such as Twitter and Facebook enable rapid dissemination of medical information--accurate or otherwise--with little filtering or commentary from experts. Wading through the reams of content is time consuming. What's more, when social media contain bias, pseudoinformation, and inaccuracies, it becomes difficult to distinguish between hype and real evidence. Discerning good information from bad can be a challenge, especially for inexperienced medical writers. That's where the curated content from Webicina becomes useful.

  

What's the benefit of curated content? As social media have exploded, the multitude of platforms we have to crawl through to find accurate content is enormous. With blogs, podcasts, Facebook groups, community sites, mobile applications, Twitter profiles, and even YouTube channels competing for our attention, finding the best information relevant to our needs can be a challenge.

 

Webicina, a free service, sifts through the medical social media clutter on more than 80 medical topics so that consumers and medical professionals can find medically reliable content online. Webicina searches these medical social media sources manually, without search engines or algorithms and compiles this information into curated medical social media collections. These collections, which are also available for the Android or iPhone, comprise popular web 2.0 tools, such as blogs, community sites, mobile applications, and slideshows, that are specific to a medical specialty or condition. For example, click on the diabetes collection and you'll find links to relevant online information about the disease. When you click on the Slideshow button, up pops a page with links to diabetes slideshows. Click on podcasts, and you'll find links to downloadable audios about diabetes. If you're trying to determine what's already available online for a certain disease state or medical condition, Webicina is a good place to begin.

 

Webicina also offers a dynamic, multilingual aggregator that enables users to identify the specific resources related to a medical specialty or medical condition they want to follow and then compiles that information in one personalized location. Click on the PeRSSonalized Medicine icon to reach the customizable platform where you can read the latest online content in 4 categories: medical journals, medical news, medical blogs, and web 2.0 tools. For example, the Medical News tab offers the most recent medical news from the BBC, CNN, MedLine Plus, and MedPage Today, among others. The Medical Journals tab links to content from the British Medical Journal, Journal of the American Medical Association, and The New England Journal of Medicine, to name a few. You determine whether you want to monitor these news sites and journals or different ones, making it easier to follow the medical publications in your field of interest.

 

In the absence of specific FDA guidance for pharma on the use of social media, Webicina also took the bold step of drafting social media guidelines for pharma. The first version of the Open Access Social Media Guidelines for Pharma was released in December 2011. The outcome of this collaborative document was the identification of several key principles of social media, such as protecting patients, informing healthcare professionals, being transparent, reporting adverse events, and following applicable codes and regulations in social media. While not meant to be the final word on the topic, this draft guidance was intended to start the social media conversation and to encourage collaboration among consumers, professionals, and pharma, thus serving as an impetus for the FDA to develop its own guidance.

 

The force behind Webicina is Dr. Bertalan Meskó, a 2009 graduate of University of Debrecen, Medical School and Health Science Center. A medical blogger, Dr. Meskó runs the popular Science Roll blog. He also manages medical projects at Wikipedia and organizes scientific events in Second Life. To ensure transparency and efficiency, the Advisory Board of Webicina includes key opinion leaders in health 2.0, participatory healthcare, and the e-patient movement.

 

Webicina weeds through the social media noise to find the most relevant disease- and specialty-specific content so that you don't have to. With a few clicks of the mouse, you can personalize it to compile most everything you want to read and track in one location. It's a time-saving resource, to be sure.

 
Radar ON THE RADAR
Resources for Medical Writers

Go To Medical School--For Free   

 

Who cares if you never took the MCAT and your budget doesn't allow you to attend medical school. With the recently launched Coursera you can sit at home wearing your bunny slippers and take courses taught by distinguished professors, such as those at Princeton, Duke, Stanford, and the University of Pennsylvania. 

 

Coursera offers more than 100 free courses (not all medical) from nearly 20 official partners that mimic aspects of a traditional learning experience. Courses include video lectures, strict class start and end dates, homework assignments, interactive quizzes, and discussion boards on which students are required to participate.

 

Did we mention it's free?

 

The medical courses are geared for a lay audience and require no prerequisite courses or specialized knowledge. What a great opportunity to learn something new without shelling out big bucks to do so!

DollarsDOLLARS & SENSE

Advice on the Business of Freelancing 

Don't Let This Job Kill You!

 

It's hard not to be at least a little bit health conscious when you're a medical writer. After all, we've seen the data and reported on studies linking stress and unhealthy lifestyle choices to decreased life expectancy and other unfavorable health outcomes.

 

But have you seen the evidence that sitting more than 3 hours A DAY decreases your life expectancy by more than a year? Yeah, we were surprised, too, when we read the Wall Street Journal article about the dangers of sitting because that's what we do. As writers, we spend a lot of time in sedentary positions at our desks, on our laptops, on our phones, and in meetings. Knowing that our job might be killing us slowly made us think about our options, especially since illness and injury ultimately affect our bottom line.

 

What can we do to prevent our job from harming our health, decreasing our quality of life, and reducing our productivity? Here are some tips to mitigate the dangers of too much sitting.

  • Get rid of the desk and chair. A few of our colleagues have taken the bold step of replacing their desks and chairs with Stand-Up Workstations. Why? Because evidence shows that when you sit, your leg muscles are completely inactive. Standing requires effort and is better for you than sitting. And don't forget an antifatigue mat to relieve stress on your feet.
     
  • Replace the chair with a balance or stability ball. Sitting for long periods of time can aggravate low back pain or sciatica. Using a balance ball requires you to work your core as you maintain your balance. Cyndy keeps a large inflated balance ball in her office and periodically switches between office chair and ball. Another alternative is a balance ball chair.
     
  • Get up and stretch. Set a timer so that every hour or so you get up from your desk and move around. Jog in place, stretch your muscles, walk to the mailbox, or put in a Zumba DVD. One of our colleagues leaves her office twice a week for her regularly scheduled yoga class. Another begins her day with an early-morning swim at the Y. The key is to do something to get you moving!   
     
  • Take telephone calls standing up. Such a simple tip, we know, but an easy way to decrease the amount of time you spend in your chair.
     
  • Use ergonomic design principles to prevent carpal tunnel and other repetitive motion injuries. When you're injured or in pain, you're less productive and efficient. Ergonomic products such as a contoured keyboard and an ergonomic widescreen computer monitor can reduce the risk of injury.  
     
  • Drink fluids. Believe it or not, dehydration becomes a concern when you spend long hours at your desk. When you're dehydrated, your alertness wanes, you develop headaches, and you become less productive. Water is great, but choose whatever you like (although we don't recommend alcohol before 5 p.m.).   

 

WhereWHERE IN THE WORLD ARE BRIAN AND CYNDY?
The Accidental Medical Writer Calendar

 

Another AMWA Annual Conference is in the book and we're already planning the next one in Columbus, OH. Cyndy is part of the planning committee, so we'll keep you posted as more details become available. If you didn't make it to Sacramento last week, we hope you'll join us in 2013! 

 

If you'd like us to come and speak at an event you're organizing, don't wait too long to contact us. Our schedule is filling fast!

 

Be sure to check out Brian's interview in Breaking Into Medical Writing and Editing by Kristen Fischer that was published online on January 6 by mediabistro.com, a top site for communication professionals who create or work with content. If you're a member of AvantGuild you can access the article for free. If not, there's a $55 annual subscription fee, which gives you access to all the exclusive content the site offers. If you recall, Kristen interviewed Cyndy last year for the Freelance Switch blog, which you can read here. Thanks, Kristen.

 

For all our upcoming activities and appearances, keep an eye on The Accidental Medical Writer In Person.

We frequently speak and teach at medical writing conferences and seminars; we've also been interviewed online. Check out our Webcasts. Brian's interview with Danielle Hampson of The Business Authors Show is also available right on our website!

We would love to present at your next upcoming meeting or event, so invite us

SavvyTHE SAVVY MARKETER
Marketing Tips to Build Your Business 
Are You Wasting Your Time With Social Media Marketing? 

We've received several emails over the past few months asking for advice on how to become a freelance medical writer. We love it when we can point people in the right direction and help them start building their freelance career. What surprised us was how many of them were still resisting social media marketing.

 

Cynics and skeptics may argue that social media is just another fad without benefits, but consider this: In a 2012 social recruiting survey, 92% of US companies said they use social networks to find employees (including freelance and contract workers). This is a marked increase from the 78% of companies that relied on social media to recruit employees 5 years ago.

  

And what was the most popular platform for social recruitment? LinkedIn, with nearly all businessess (93%) leveraging it at some point during the recruiting process. These figures suggest that social media is not a gimmick. It represents a shift in the way we are doing business today--and will do business in the future.

  

Repeat after us:  social media is a powerful tool for small businesses because it enables you to form more personal connections with colleagues, clients, and prospective customers. But don't waste your time unless you're committed to taking an active role in marketing yourself. 

  

Start by identifying your goal for using social media. Some reasons to use social media might be to:

  • Create an online resume and collect recommendations
  • Build professional networks and make client contacts
  • Learn and collaborate
  • Keep up with industry news
  • Drive viewers to your website
  • Sell a product or service

 

Be selective about the networks you join. Once you identify your goals, join the social networks that will help you achieve those goals.

 

Start small.  

  • Limit the number of sites on which you're active, perhaps begin with only 1 or 2 sites.

  • Determine how much time you can devote to each site. Experts say that you'll need at least 1 hour weekly per site to build your online presence.

  • Try out different sites to find the best fit.
  • Use a laser focus on chosen site(s) before discarding them as ineffective.
  • Don't stop after you open your account and create your profile. For social media marketing to be effective you need to become part of the conversation.

 

Remember that social media is fluid. Each site targets a different audience; HOWEVER, all social networking sites share common ground. What meets YOUR purpose today may be obsolete for YOU tomorrow. Discard what doesn't work for YOU.

THE FINE PRINT

 

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