Structure: Effective medical communication has a reader-centered structure
Quickbite for the busy: Choose a document structure (the order in which you put your headings) that allows your reader to find the information immediately. When in doubt, choose the inverted triangle or pyramid.
I vividly remember my first Chemistry lecture at university. Despite the nervous chatter in the room, I was fairly relaxed. Chemistry was my thing. I loved it in school and I expected an overview of protons, electrons, and neutrons. Easy peasy lemon-squeezy.
I may have dozed off for a couple of seconds because the first thing I remember from the lecture itself is the sound of chalk on the blackboard and this beast:
Fig. 1: Schrödinger’s equation.[1]
Fear-struck, I turn to my friend and could see the same expression of terror on his face (it’s been a long time, so this part of the story could be slightly exaggerated). Difficult, difficult lemon-difficult. To be fair, we eventually heard about protons, neutrons, and electrons, and how electrons circle the protons and neutrons in distinct distances. Chemistry was good again. For a minute at least.
In Chemistry, we can draw one single molecule in a number of different ways, to help different readers find different information (for example, sum formulas, constitutional formulas, Valence Shell Electron Pair Repulsion structures, …)
In medical writing, we can also choose different document structures to help our audience find the information quickly and effectively.
Is this really necessary? Wouldn’t our reader understand the content of our medical communication regardless? They might, would they actually read it. But they don’t. And why should they? Scanning a page, especially on the internet, can provide almost as much information as reading every word, but it’s a lot faster.[2]
So, how can we structure our documents to help our readers find the information effectively?
The headings you choose and where you put them will determine the overall structure of the document.
If you read articles about original research, you will find a special structure: Information, Methods, Results and Discussion (IMRaD) or a variation thereof.[3] Journals that publish these articles have their own style-guide. Therefore, I will not discuss IMRaD in this blog.
The most useful structures for our medical communication document are:
the Inverted Triangle or Pyramid
the Frequently Asked Questions
the Step-by-Step Guide[4]
Structure #1: the Inverted Triangle or Pyramid
Fig. 2: The inverted triangle or pyramid structure
How it works: Start with the most important information at the top and work your way down to the least important information at the bottom of your text. As usual, I am talking about what your reader finds important, not you.
Perfect for: All kind of information that is supposed to help the reader solve a problem.
The reader: Starts skimming from top to bottom. However, their interest decreases rapdily if the first thing isn’t important to them.
For example: A sequence of headings for “Management of drug A induced diarrhoea” could be:
Immediate actions when your patient has diarrhoea
Monitoring of your patient during the treatment with drug A
Incidence of diarrhoea in the clinical trials of drug A
Prophylaxis of diarrhoea
Structure #2: the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Fig. 2: The Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) structure
How it works: Switch between a short question and its answer right below.
Perfect for: Search engine optimised webpages and broad topics with short answers to several related questions.
The reader: May have several questions in mind and doesn’t mind to skim your document for the right one.
For example: Questions in FAQs could include:
What is the density of drug B?
What are the ingredients of drug B?
What are the storage conditions of drug B?
Does drug B contain gluten?
Structure 3: the Step-by-Step guide
Fig. 3: The Step-by-Step guide structure
How it works: In a numbered list of headings, write a detailed description of each step.
Perfect for: Your reader needs to follow a precise sequence of steps to use a product or device correctly.
Readers: Are likely first-time users of the product or device and need a detailed description on how to use it.
For example: A step-by-step sequence of headings could be:
Measure the weight of the patient
Calculate the required dose of drug C
Check the label of the vial(s)
Reconstitute the required amount of drug C
Check the label of the vial again
Dilute the reconstituted amount of drug C
Inject drug C with 1ml/min
Choosing the right structure for your document will help your reader and is easy. When in doubt, use the inverted triangle or pyramid structure. If you still have doubts about your specific document, I’m happy to help you find the right structure for it.
References:
[1] Adapted from https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schr%C3%B6dingergleichung; 10th of May 2022
[2] https://www.nngroup.com/articles/text-scanning-patterns-eyetracking/; 13th of May 2022
[3] Taylor RB. Medical Writing - A Guide for Clinicians, Educators, and Researchers. 3rd ed. Switzerland: Springer International Publishing AG; 2018.
[4] Albrigthon T. How to write clearly. Write with purpose, reach your reader and ake your meaning crystal clear. 1st ed. United Kingdom: ABC Business Communications Ltd; 2021.
Do you have comments, doubts or questions for me?
… if you want to discuss the structure of your medical communication together.
See you soon, best wishes