Effective writing for healthcare professionals Dorking, UK

This article appeared in the Autumn 2000 edition of Short Words, the newsletter of Tim Albert Training. It was written by Tim Albert.

Revise? I'd rather cry!

Why does medical writing attract humiliation?

One of the fascinating things about the way doctors and other health professionals organise their writing is how difficult they make it for each other.

In other activities and in other walks of life, usually we are encouraged to be positive to people who are brave enough to have a go. But when it comes to putting things down in black and white, we are too quick to get out the red pencil.

For instance, as soon as the first author has finished the first draft of a scientific article, all the other co-authors try to show up his or her inadequacies as writer or researcher.

When a journal is published, editors sit round pointing out all the spelling mistakes that have been missed.

And if someone writes well enough to get published in the national press, his or her colleagues will ignore any reference to the fact that important information has been disseminated, instead gleefully pointing out one or two omissions for which there probably wouldn’t have been room anyway.

Why does this happen? Partly, I think, for reasons of power – it is an excellent way of keeping people – particularly those younger and brighter than us - busy, occupied and therefore unthreatening.

But it also happens by default. This negative writing culture has been around for years and not enough people have sat down to work out whether there is a better way of doing this writing thing. There is, and here are some suggestions.

Keep it in perspective. The number of criticisms people can make about your writing is not a sensible measure of success. As the American humorist James Thurber famously wrote: ‘Don’t get it right, get it written’.

Negotiate before writing. Many of the difficulties that arise once the first draft has been written do so because all those involved still have to agree what it’s all about. With any major piece of writing, make sure that all those involved agree, preferably in writing, on what you are trying to say, to whom – and how you will judge your success.

Encourage balanced feedback. Try to encourage a culture in which those who are asked to comment on writing are expected to say what they think works – and what they think needs changing. They should not be encouraged to go through the text in nit-picking details – and any red pens used for this purpose should be destroyed.

Look for the positive. Anyone who writes will make mistakes, and we can always do it better. But the question to keep asking is this: has our writing achieved the goal we set out to achieve? All else is noise.

• Didn't you learn grammar at school?
  What kind of school did you go to anyway?
  
• Everyone know you can't start a sentence with And or But.
  My school was much better than yours.
  
• I found it difficult to follow your arguments.
  Haven't you heard about paragraphs?
  
• I'm not quite sure I understand your drift?
  I did brief you, didn't I?
  
• You should write more concisely.
  This is too long.
  
• I think you are being patronising.
  Goodness! You have written this in clear English. It could be dangerous.

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