Essential Components of Educational Programs on Biomedical Writing, Editing, and Publishing

Critical Thinking and Scientific Writing Skills of Non-Anglophone Medical Students: a Model of Training Course

There are currently very limited reports on the strengths and weaknesses of Japanese medical students in processing (i.e., searching, reading, synthesizing, writing, editing, refining) and presenting medical content based on scholarly journal articles. We developed and offered a 3-week group independent research course in English as a summer elective named "Improving Medical English Skills and Creating English Medical Content (PPT and video) Based on Medical Journal Articles" to our fourth-year Japanese medical students who follow a 6-year medical curriculum as the target audience. Herein, we describe the specific strengths and weaknesses of 6 students who chose and completed the course. Thereafter, we assessed the possible reasons underlying these weaknesses, pondered on the potential implications of such weaknesses on the critical thinking, logical reasoning, and communication skills of Japanese medical students, and suggested approaches to further enhance these skills. The assessments, implications, and suggestions given may provide medical educators new insights on how to newly organize educational and clinical programs to address such weaknesses, improve searching, reading, writing, editing, and presentation skills, enhance critical thinking and logical reasoning abilities, and gain in-depth knowledge essential for effectively appraising and communicating medical content.

Impact of basic medical writing workshop on case report writing by post-graduate anaesthesia trainees: A pilot study

Background and Aims:

Research is an integral component of medical education and practice. However, the art of medical writing remains neglected. Case report writing marks foray into the world of publications and presentations. We assessed and compared the impact of basic medical writing workshop about case report writing and their perception levels of confidence in these skills, among post-graduate anaesthesia students.

Methods:

A needs assessment for medical writing skills was performed among all anaesthesia residents. A total of 20 students were enrolled in this study. The pre-workshop assignment consisted of writing one case report per participant within 30 days, followed by students’ confidence assessment in these skills. A workshop on basic medical writing including analytical writing, scientific writing and plagiarism were conducted. Post-workshop a similar assignment was provided, followed by students’ confidence assessment.

Results:

Moderate-to-high need for help was felt by 92.63% for analytical skills, 100% for scientific skills and writing without plagiarism, 95.78% for overall writing skills. For case report writing, the analytical and scientific writing significantly improved after the workshop (P = 0.01 and P = 0.016, respectively). There was a significant improvement in the students’ confidence levels post-workshop in their analytical writing skills, avoiding plagiarism and overall writing capabilities (P = 0.02, P = 0.016 and P = 0.002, respectively).

Conclusion:

Writing skills of participants and their confidence in these skills improved post-workshop.

Outlining and dictating scientific manuscripts is a useful method for health researchers: A focus group interview

Background:

Young researchers may experience difficulties when writing scientific articles for publication in biomedical journals. Various methods may facilitate the writing process including outlining the paper before the actual writing and using dictation instead of writing the first draft. The aim of this study was to investigate the experiences and difficulties for young, experienced researchers when writing articles using a detailed outline and dictation of the first draft.

Methods:

We used qualitative focus group interviews and the study was reported according to the COnsolidated criteria for REporting Qualitative research guideline. Participants were sampled from a group of researchers participating in a writing retreat/course. The interviews were recorded on a digital recorder and transcribed. The text was analyzed according to content analysis and coded and condensed into themes and subthemes. Groups of participants were added until data saturation was reached.

Results:

A total of 14 researchers participated (9 women and 5 men). Their clinical experience was median (range) of 6 (1–11) years since graduation from medical school. Two themes arose during the analyses of the data: “Process guidance with the outline as the map” and “arrival at dictation.” The outline was used in the preparation phase leading up to the day of dictation and was used in collaboration with co-authors and supervisors. The participants found it to be a useful tool for preparing the manuscript and dictating their initial first full draft.

Conclusion:

Experienced young researchers found beneficial effects of using a structured outline to prepare for dictation of scientific articles. The outline was a tool that would develop in close collaboration with co-authors and mentors. With dictation, a full first draft of a manuscript can be produced in a few hours. Participants positively evaluated this structured and reproducible way of producing scientific articles.