Audience: Effective medical communication has a specific audience
Quickbite for the busy: Define your target audience (type, goal, knowledge, sources they trust, device they use) before you start writing and write for them.
My former girlfriend, now fiancée, and I had a nice tradition when we were studying in Graz. On Sunday mornings we ordered Chinese food from the only restaurant that opened at 11 am. Our quest: watch TV and indulge insane amounts of food.
The tradition didn’t follow us to the Emerald Isle. Much to the liking of our coronary arteries. But, as you will confirm, the occasional food delivery is a must, no matter where you are.
One evening we ordered Indian. I can't remember the dish, but it had a quirky little pepper displayed next to its name on the online menu. That was the day I learned this particular restaurant used a binary pepper system (pepper or no pepper) to indicate the dish’s spice:
No pepper meant edible, and one pepper meant LICKING THE SURFACE OF THE SUN!
This was in contrast to the pepper scale (from zero up to three peppers) I was familiar with.
The restaurant failed to communicate the spiciness of its food effectively. Either because
I wasn't part of their target audience, or
they failed to define a target audience.
In medical communication this can have serious implications (including, but not limited to, burning intestines):
If you fail to define your target audience, the message you send might differ from the message your reader receives.
We make medical communication all about the reader, because that way we have the highest chances that the reader
finds it (it’s where your reader looks for medical communication)
considers it interesting (it resonates with the needs of your reader)
reads it (it has the appropriate length and is efficiently structured for your reader), and
understands it (it uses appropriate words and "jargon" for your reader).[1]
Peel the audience onion (Fig 1)
Answer the following questions:
Who is your reader?
What is their goal?
How much do they already know about the product?
Which sources do they check and trust?
Which device do they use? [2,3]
You can dig a lot deeper if you like. Helpful additional information would be: age-range, interests, specialties, preferred tone, reading level, experience, …
For example: Your reader could be a Health Care Professional who wants to answer a specific question, was included in the pivotal studies, prefers finding information on the company specific website and reads on her smartphone.
Fig 1: The audience onion. From outside to the inside: each layer helps you define a characteristic of your target audience.
Since – let's face reality – you won't interview anybody for hours, these techniques will get you started:
Invent your ideal reader.
Find medical communication that has the effect you are aiming at. Try to reverse-engineer the target audience of the text.
Write for yourself. Even if you are not a doctor, for example, you know the sources you trust, how you consume information, your reading level and the kind of information you need to solve a specific problem.
These techniques will help you focus your communication immediately.
Remember: writing for your audience can make the difference between Xerostomia and a dry mouth.[4]
References:
[1] Albert T. Write effectively – a quick course for busy health workers. Boca Raton: CRC Press; 2021. Chapter 4, Getting started – the brief; p.23.
[2] Cutts M. Oxford Guide to Plain English. 5th ed. United Kingdom: Oxford University Press; 2020. Chapter 1, Planning comes fist; p.2.
[3] Greenhalgh T. How to read a paper - the basics of evidence-based medicine and healthcare. 6th ed. United Kingdom: John Wiley & Sons Ltd; 2019. Chapter 2, Searching the literature; p.17.
[4] https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/dry-mouth/symptoms-causes/syc-20356048; last accessed: 11.03.2022
Do you have comments, doubts or specific questions for me?
… if you want to take a more detailed look into your audience together.
See you soon, best wishes