A study published in BMC Medical Education where participants from a medical, nursing and physiotherapy background from US and Brazil, finds an on-line scientific writing instruction is better than standard face-to-face instruction in terms of writing quality and student satisfaction.

Writing of scientific information in a clear and persuasive manner determines the success of every published paper. Effective articulation of scientific content also determines the career progress and the sustainability of a researcher in the long run.

The study was performed by comparing the different training methodologies in scientific writing by taking a cue of online versus the traditional classroom-based learning techniques.

The traditional modes of instruction such as classroom training, workshops and seminars have been perceived to be outdated, impersonal, inapplicable and boring in the real world taking into consideration the inflexibility, scheduling pattern, location and the customizability of the training program.

On the contrary, with the development of new instructional tools and techniques, distance education has proved to be promising by reducing the dissemination costs, independence of time, multiplying the learning opportunities and eliminating the travel time and expenses during the course of the training.

The e-learning methodology (online training) holds additional benefits such as providing sufficient course material and completion of assignments via the internet, live streaming of media (audio and video), live webcasts, instant messaging and video conferencing. Most of all e-learning provides the participant with a flexibility of time and space and the individual customization of the program.

The research study included forty-eight participants of medical, physiotherapy and nursing background who were randomly divided into group A and B as online writing workshop (online group) and standard writing guidance training (standard group) respectively. The outcome of the manuscript’s quality was assessed based on the Likert scale evaluation and Fleiss kappa.

The reviewers assessed the inter-observer reliability among the participants who showed good overall manuscript quality among online group compared to the standard training group. The reviewers also noted a higher participant satisfaction in the online group compared to standard face-to-face instruction group by observing a higher writing quality and participant satisfaction.

G.Vishwanand founder and CEO – InfocusRx , briefed in Healthcare Summit 2018, Hyderabad, that medical writing training is more effective when delivered online since you may require to source or refer more than 80-90% content for your writing from online sources. Also, the technology advances have made all the writings and its publishing computer-based. Thus, I-CME offers an online training platform for better performance and result. I-CME offers training in Scientific Writing, Patient Education/ Consumer Writing, Regulatory Writing, Medico-Marketing Writing and Social Media Writing for Healthcare and Pharmaceuticals.

Source: BMC Medical Education

By. Susheel Morris,