The Clinician’s Guide to

Medical Writing
The Clinician’s Guide to
Medical Writing

Robert B. Taylor, M.D.

123
Robert B. Taylor, M.D.
Department of Family Medicine
Mail Code FM
Oregon Health & Science Univ. School of Medicine
Portland, Oregon 97239-3098, USA
taylorr@ohsu.edu

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 This book is dedicated to two mentors who have been
important in my life:
Martha E. Irwin, my Latin and Spanish teacher, who taught
me to value words and their meanings,
and
Charles F. Visokay, M.D., my first medical editor, who
helped me learn how to write for clinicians.
Preface

This book is for the clinician who wants to write. It is for the
physician, physician assistant, or nurse practitioner who
sees patients and who wants to contribute to the medical lit-
erature. You may be an assistant professor aspiring to pro-
motion or a clinician in private practice who seeks the
personal enrichment that writing can bring. If you are new
to medical writing or even if you have been the author of
some articles or book chapters and seek to improve your
abilities, this book can help you.
Who am I that I can make this assertion and write this
book, both fairly presumptuous? Here’s my reasoning. As a
practicing physician, writing has been my avocation; unlike
the authors of many other writing books, I am not a journal
editor. Over 14 years in private practice and 26 years in aca-
demic medicine, I have written all the major models
described in this book: review articles, case reports, editori-
als, letters to the editor, book reviews, book chapters, edited
books, authored books, and reports of clinical research stud-
ies. Most have been published. Not all. Perhaps my most
significant qualification is not that I have managed to pro-
duce a lengthy curriculum vitae. In my opinion, what is more
important for you, the reader, is that I have made all the
errors. That’s right, the mistakes. Over the years, I have jum-
bled spelling, mixed metaphors, tangled syntax, gotten lost in
my own outline, written on unimportant topics, and submit-
ted articles to the wrong journals. But along the way, I have
published 22 medical books and several hundred papers and
book chapters in the literature. This book is written to share
what I have learned—what works and what doesn’t in med-
ical writing.
This book is intended to help clinicians translate their
practice observations and ideas into written form and even-
tually into print. In striving to achieve this purpose, I have
written the book with four objectives in mind. These objec-
tives are to help the clinician-writer

■ understand more about the art of medical writing, including

motivation, conceptualization, mechanics, and frustrations;
■ discover how to write in the different models found in the
medical literature, including review articles, case reports,
editorials, letters, book chapters, research papers, and
more;
■ learn how to get a manuscript published; and
■ recognize that writing can be fun.

The book’s 10 chapters cover basic concepts in medical

writing and how to write various types of articles and book
chapters. The content is a blend of personal experience and
research on the Web and in printed sources. Throughout all
chapters, I have attempted to follow the time-honored prin-
ciple of supporting theory with examples, some from actual
published materials and some created to help illustrate the
ideas presented.
In Chapter 1, I challenge authors to consider three ques-
tions before beginning work on an article or book: So what?
Who cares? Where will it be published? As the author, I believe
that I should answer the three questions in regard to this
book. The “So what?” question asks what is new and differ-
ent, and I think that the answer lies in the fact that I address
medical writing knowledge and skills from the viewpoint of
the clinician, not that of the medical journal editor or profes-
sor of English literature. The “Who cares?” issue concerns the
potential reader; for this book, that is the clinician who
writes for the medical literature. In response to the “Where will
it be published?” question, I am pleased that this book is
published by Springer-Verlag, the world’s leading publisher of
scientific books, with whom I have had an author–publisher
relationship since 1976.
As a clinician, you have a tremendous source for writing
ideas—the patients you see each day. Think about the mean-
ing of a cluster of uncommon problems you have observed
recently, the unlikely manifestation of a common disease, or
the extraordinary courage displayed by one of your patients.
Perhaps you have found a new way to use an old remedy, or
you have your own thoughts about a recently published
study. This book is about helping you—the practicing clini-
cian—recognize the reportable idea and write it up.
Happy writing!

Portland, Oregon Robert B. Taylor, M.D.

May 2004
Table of Contents

Dedication v
Preface vii
About This Book xiii

1 Getting Started in Medical Writing 1

2 Basic Writing Skills 29
3 From Page One to the End 61
4 Technical Issues in Medical Writing 85
5 What’s Special About Medical Writing? 105
6 How to Write a Review Article 127
7 Case Reports, Editorials, Letters to the Editor,
Book Reviews, and Other Publication Models 143
8 Writing Book Chapters and Books 167
9 How to Write a Report of a Clinical Study 195
10 Getting your Writing Published 213

Appendix 1 Glossary of Terms Used in Medical

Writing 247
Appendix 2 Commonly Used Proofreader’s Marks 253
Appendix 3 Commonly Used Medical Abbreviations 255
Appendix 4 Normal Laboratory Values for
Adult Patients 259

Index 263
About This Book

True ease in writing comes from art, not chance,

As those move easiest who have learn’d to dance.
Alexander Pope

After reading this book, you will have a better understanding

of the art of writing, both of writing in general and, specifi-
cally, of medical writing, with all its idiosyncrasies. This
short introduction tells a little about the book’s organization
and its own peculiarities, including word use, reference style,
and the examples and allusions you will encounter. In the end,
our common goal is to find some true ease in writing, through
consideration of both theory and examples from the literature,
and by looking at what constitutes good and not-so-good
writing.
The book progresses from the theoretical to the practical. It
begins with basic writing topics and skills. Next comes a con-
sideration of the various models for medical writing, from
review article to report of a research study. The final chapter
discusses how to get your work into print. The appendix has
some handy tools that may help you along the way, including a
glossary of medical writing terms, proofreader’s marks, and
some tables of commonly used abbreviations and laboratory
reference values that you may use in your publications (with
attribution, please, but you need not request permission from
Springer-Verlag or from me).
In the early chapters on basic writing skills, I use the word
article, even though we know that later in the book the prin-
ciples of authorship described will also apply to editorials,
letters to the editor, and research reports. In using words, I will
often go to the Greek or Latin roots; doing so helps me use
words more precisely.
Within chapters, you will also note some reference cita-
tions in parentheses. These are used for articles and books
that are the sources of writing examples. Although I believe
xiv ABOUT THIS BOOK

it unlikely that any reader would actually want to consult

these writings, I have provided abbreviated citations, just
in case.
At the end of each chapter are references presented in the
style of the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submit-
ted to Biomedical Journals, a very useful guide that will be
discussed in later chapters. Using this reference style for the
book models the way you will generally prepare citations for
your medical articles.
I have done my best to make this book a pleasure to read.
This includes using short, strong words, and, at times, color-
ful images. I have included allusions to medical history, clas-
sical writing, mystery novels, popular songs, opera, and
movies. We will visit Pogo and Snoopy, zombies and clones,
Billy Crystal and Frau Röntgen, Princess Turandot and Yogi
Berra. As you read along you will also learn some medical
information, such as whether or not flu vaccine can prevent
ear infection in children and whether continuity of care can
lower health care costs. All the examples in the book help
illustrate points about medical writing that I consider impor-
tant.
My wife, Anita D. Taylor, M.A. Ed., has read every word
in this book at least twice and has provided ideas that are
reflected in what you will read. For her contributions, I am
truly grateful.
I hope that what follows will help you master the art of
writing, to “move easiest” by learning—not really new dance
steps—but some helpful tips on how to walk the path from
idea to print.