Medical Communication Competition
2024
Are you a final year student, post-doc or staff working at a UK University interested in medical writing and communications?
VML Health is once again proud to partner with the NWBI to run this year’s Medical Writing Competition. As innovation in healthcare continues to drive improvements for patients, there is an ever-increasing complexity of treatment decisions for all stakeholders to navigate. This means that now, more than ever, there is a need for clear communication and discourse on healthcare. The goal of medical communications is to provide information and facilitate these conversations to support patients receive the best care possible.
This competition has been designed to give you an insight into the type of work that medical writers do for pharmaceutical clients. We welcome applicants from all students looking to gain experience in the Medical Writing field.
Winning participants will win cash prizes,1st place - £600, as well as in-person masterclasses at the VML Health Manchester office.
The Brief
Task 1: Slides for a professional audience
The pharmaceutical industry frequently engages clinical and academic experts to provide advice and critique of clinical data. As medical writers, we are often commissioned to create slides that act as stimulus for these discussions, which provide important background information and summarising clinical studies.
For this competition, your task is to create a brief summary of the pivotal study for Lecanemab for presentation to an advisory group. You can find the study by van Dyck et al titled Lecanemab in Early Alzheimer’s Disease at the link here: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2212948
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Prepare up to 10 slides for a healthcare professional audience to communicate the findings and clinical implications of the study
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Your slide deck should include the following:
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Introduction
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Justification for this study
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Methods
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Results
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Clinical implications of the results
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Consider the visual layout of the information
Note: While the majority of your presentation should be focused on the paper provided, consider what other information may be relevant to include.
Task 2: Social media infographics for a patient audience
Patients and their caregivers should have an important role in deciding which treatments are right for them. In order to do this, they need to have an understanding of the disease, the treatment options, and what impact it will have on their lives. Pharmaceutical companies will often provide information to patients to help them make treatment decisions.
For this task, create a visual summary of the same study that can be easily understood by a patient audience.
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Prepare up to 3 slides or visuals for social media for a patient/caregiver audience to communicate:
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What the study was investigating?
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What the key findings of the study were?
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What this means for patients in the broader context of care?
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Use an infographic style and appropriate language for your target audience
Tip: Remember that it is illegal to market pharmaceutical products to the public in the UK (i.e. say anything that could be construed as you trying to influence a patient to use a particular product). When creating your slides, carefully consider what would be appropriate to say in this context.
Examples:
We do not expect you to produce infographics to this level, though do consider the layout and use of graphic elements in your submission
Click here to see the original tweet
How to enter
Send your written pieces to manchester@nwbiotech.co.uk
Your files should be named using the following convention: NAME_HCP Slides_2024 and NAME_Patient Leaflet_2024
Include in your email whether you are an undergraduate, Master’s student, or PhD student and what you are studying
All submissions must be sent by 23:59 on Sunday 25th February
Shortlisted applicants will be invited to present w/c 11th March
Please read the competition brief document before entering.
Any questions please email manchester@nwbiotech.co.uk