In our roles as medical writers, we're called upon to cover health news stories and craft messaging that influences health care consumers and helps them to make informed health care decisions. That's a huge responsibility, and it's one we take seriously.

Accurately reporting health and medical news for consumers such as findings from research studies can be tricky, especially when the deliverable is a press release or a magazine or newspaper article. We want our content to accurately describe advances in health care that may result from the findings, without overstating their impact, and we need to paint a story that enables the public to put the research into context. Not only that but we also must satisfy our client, who may be a product manager at a pharmaceutical or device manufacturer who is trying to gain media attention for the research, or the health news editor of a popular website who needs an article that comes in at exactly 500 words and no more.

Even with FDA regulations in place with regard to what pharma can and can't say, it's easy to unintentionally give readers the wrong impression. If you don't believe us, just check out the resource we share in On the Radar for proof.  

When we wear our health care journalism hats, either as writers or editors, we need to make sure the language in our copy really does reflect what the evidence shows without sensationalism. Here are some tips:

• Be aware of the quality of the evidence. All evidence is not created equal. There is a hierarchy of research design that orders study designs from the weakest (single case report) to the strongest (adequately sized randomized controlled trial and meta-analyses). We need to understand and report on the quality of the evidence so that readers can draw accurate, reliable, and useful conclusions about the research. (TIP: Do a Google image search for hierarchy of research to see the pyramid figure that's commonly used to describe this concept.)
• Brush up on statistics. Some concepts with which you should be familiar include bias, p value, absolute and relative risk, and number needed to treat.
• Rely on more than a single source. To present a balanced story, you need perspective from multiple sources.
• Think about what might be missing. This is especially true when reading abstracts or meeting summaries from scientific meetings. These sources often reflect preliminary research findings you should view as works in progress. Additionally, they might not include funding sources or conflict of interest disclosures that are generally required in peer-reviewed publications.
• Discuss harms as well as benefits. This should be a no-brainer. How can consumers make well-informed decisions if they can't analyze risks versus benefits?
• Ditch the sensationalism. Although the headline writer may suggest you use the phrase medical miracle to describe the research, we know you won't.

Want to read more about medical research and the messages consumers receive? Check these out:

• Bad Science by Ben Goldacre, a humorous take on the subject.
• The Truth About the Drug Companies: How They Deceive Us and What to Do About It by Marcia Angell. This former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine reveals the dysfunction between big pharma and medical publications.
• Covering Medical Research: A Guide to Reporting on Studies by Gary Schwitzer offers excellent advice on how to report research accurately. (Scroll through the list of Gary's publications for a link to this and other helpful publications.)

You Can Be Too UNcomfortable                  

In last month's issue of Pencil Points we told you about the benefits of making yourself UNcomfortable by taking on assignments that enable you to push yourself to learn and grow. If you think about it, everything we know and do today (beyond brainstem activity) is something we once didn't know and had to learn. We also gave you several tried-and-true tactics we've employed to reduce the risk of stretching ourselves too far. So does that mean you're safe to take on everything and anything? No. You can be too uncomfortable.

You've probably heard the saying that an infinite number of monkeys with an infinite number of typewriters (and, no doubt, paper and ribbon) would eventually produce all the great works of literature we know today. (Would they fare better with laptops?) The thing is, freelances don't have an infinite amount of time or resources. We have deadlines. And deadlines make it harder to deliver on a project for which you have little or no experience.

On the other side of the coin, sometimes a project is simply impossible to do well. We recently encountered one of those assignments. We were contracted to develop a brief slide deck (~25 slides) in an area in which we're familiar but not expert. Sounds okay so far, right? But here's the kicker. The client had no idea what she wanted. She gave little direction, and the turnaround was nearly measured in hours. So here's what we had: an ill-defined deliverable with no time to get it wrong, and no time to get it right. To say we were uncomfortable is an understatement. But it wasn't the good kind of uncomfortableness in which we were stretching and growing. This uncomfortableness felt more like crashing and burning.

As freelances, we need to carefully size up the opportunities that come our way. After picking off the low-hanging fruit--the projects we know we can do and do well--there must be a method to how we agree to take on assignments that are outside our comfort zones. Here are a few questions to ask yourself:

• If I lack familiarity with the therapeutic area, is there sufficient time for me to get up to speed?
• If I lack experience with the project type, does the client have examples I can follow?
• If I lack the ability to write at the necessary level, am I the right person for the job?
• If the project is an impossible task, am I crazy?

You might be asking yourself why, given that the recent project we took on was a clearly impossible task, did we agree to do it? This brings us to our recommendation for when you find yourself in this situation (and we promise, you will):

Be honest with your client.

There is nothing worse than getting yourself in the middle of a project for which you are the wrong person for the job. Nothing worse for you, and nothing worse for your client. You're much better off being honest about your limitation, and then using your resources and contacts to help the client find the right person for the job. Trust us, your client will respect you for it, and they won't hesitate to come back to you the next time because they know that even if you're not the solution to their problem, you will be part of the solution. That makes you very valuable!

We told our client that because of the ridiculous time constraint, only an expert in the subject could have even a remote chance of being able to deliver, and we weren't that expert. Our client countered that in their opinion, there was no expert for the job. They also confided in us that although the project is an impossible task, it's their impossible task. They can't say "no" to their client. Although it wouldn't end well for anyone, they knew we were the best for the job, so saying "yes" would still end well for our relationship. So we did, and it did. But boy was it frustrating!

Brian and Cyndy started off the year with presentations at the AMWA Mid-Atlantic Chapter Conference and the AMWA Delaware Valley Chapter Freelance Conference. if you didn't attend, you should definitely put these conferences on your schedule for next year!

Brian just presented a webinar for AMWA on The Secret Marketing Tactics of Top Freelances, where he revealed some of the secret marketing tactics successful freelances use every day to make their clients love them, hire them, recommend them, and pay them more than anyone else. Check back with us because we're looking into ways to repurpose the content.    

Brian and Cyndy just received word that their proposal (developed with colleague Lori De Milto) was accepted for an open session at the AMWA 75th Annual Conference in San Antonio, TX, September 30 to October 3, 2015. The session, Unlock the Secrets to Freelance Success, is tentatively scheduled for Thursday October 1 from 2:00 to 3:30. Put it on your calendars. Brian also will be presenting his workshop on The Fundamentals of Freelance Business Marketing. It will be a huge event and also a very important 75th Anniversary celebration for AMWA you won't want to miss!

More webinars are also in the works, and you'll hear more about these soon.

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

How to Come Back from the Dark Side        

This past Monday was the fourth of May, and as Star Wars fans love to say on that date, "May the fourth be with you!" It's hard to say that without chuckling, but it also got us thinking about the forces of evil on the Dark Side--that is, salaried employment, where companies own your soul and control you. Sure, we all started there. But we were able to overcome the Dark Forces and carve out better lives for ourselves as freelances.

Freelancing doesn't work out for everyone, and it doesn't necessarily work out for everyone all the time. We know plenty of people who have broken free from the Dark Side only to find that they prefer the perceived safety of a staff job. We don't judge. But we also know people who left freelancing to revisit the Dark Side, only to switch back again either after they got their fill or after they fulfilled their purpose. For some people, like Brian, it's only a visit. For others it's more of an open-ended stay. There are even a few "serial switchers" who go back and forth between freelancing and the Dark Side as the mood or need suits them.

In The Accidental Medical Writer, Brian wrote about the very specific reason he returned to the Dark Side in 2002. He knew that to take his freelance business to the next level he needed to subcontract, and he was concerned his management skills were weak because he hadn't managed anyone other than himself for 13 years. Once he got what he went for, he returned again from the Dark Side and his freelance business was there waiting for him with the engine running.

For most people, launching a freelance business is a once-in-a-lifetime thing. It's not easy, so why would anyone want to do it more than once? Well, there is a way to come back from the Dark Side and pick up nearly where you left off, and that's the tip we want to share with you. If there's a chance, no matter how remote it might seem at the time, that you might want to return again from the Dark Side, don't leave without paving the path for your return.

Here are some of the things you should and shouldn't do before leaving your freelance business for the Dark Side if you think or know you're coming back:

• Talk to your best clients about what you're doing and why--meet face to face if you can.
• If your new job allows, retain some freelance work so you stay in touch.
• Don't disconnect your business phone number, email address, or bank account.
• Don't dissolve your business entity.
• Stay in touch with your best clients via LinkedIn--know when and where they're moving and congratulate their achievements.
• Check in with your best clients on a regular basis every 2 or 3 months via email--let them know what you're up to, and (subtly) how that keeps you relevant and valuable to them.

By paving the path for your return before you leave and keeping the motor running, your freelance business will be much easier to get back on the road to success.