What’s the difference between scientific and medical content?
Scientific and medical content have a lot in common. Both content types require writers who are highly educated with subjectexpertise, both use evidence gathered using the scientific method and both work to build audience trust and encourage readers to learn more about their subject matter
Scientific and medical content differ in a number of respects, though, namely writing style, subject matter, delivery method and audience. Medical writing is primarily aimed at healthcare professionals (HCPs), while science writing is aimed at people with a professional or personal interest in broader scientific topics.
Each content creator must be a subject matter expert. It is always important to consider the audience and the language that would best convey the necessary information. It is useful to have access to both scientific and medical content writers.
What is scientific content?
Public funders often require researchers to disseminate their findings to the tax-paying public. The resulting content aims to makedense scientific studies and data understandable for non-specialist audiences.
Scientific content is generally aimed at broader target audiences, which may include policy-makers, industry professionals, the wider scientific community and the general public. Such content usually takes the form of engaging videos, blog posts, infographics and short summaries.
What is medical content?
Medicine may be an applied science, but a scientific content writer is not necessarily equipped to write medical content. Medical content aims to communicate medical documents, studies and novel findings to HCPs or patients. The target audience for each piece may be generalist or specialist, and the audience in each case determines the density and depth of the content. A rigorous medical writer will accurately translate the source material and faithfully represent the study’s findings.
So which formats do medical writers typically adopt? Plain Language Studies (PLSs) are popular for healthcare audiences, as areinterviews with Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs). Sometimes multimedia assets are created for distribution across audio, video, web and email channels to drive awareness of specific clinical studies.
How to make medical and science content compelling
Multimedia formats add extra interest to medical and science content. An omnichannel or multichannel strategy requires content in a variety of formats, from visual to textual to audio. No matter which format is used, the content must be easy to understand. Popular forms of non-textual communication include infographics, videos and podcasts.
The language used in digital content assets must be clear, concise and compelling. When translating information from a study into digestible content, avoid using jargon-heavy scientific language unless unavoidable, and express key ideas as simply as possible. A high–quality content creator knows how to tune content to captivate any audience.
For content that speaks to your audience, speak to SciencePOD.