Copywriting and compliance for therapeutic products - the essentials
Sally Bathgate Sally Bathgate

Copywriting and compliance for therapeutic products - the essentials

Are you new to medical copywriting for therapeutic products in Australia and overwhelmed by Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) rules? That’s completely understandable! All the advertising codes, regulations and guidance can be so complex and confusing. This overview will help you get started.

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Health Information Week 2023 (Aussie Edition)
Sally Bathgate Sally Bathgate

Health Information Week 2023 (Aussie Edition)

This week (July 3-9 2023) is Health Information Week in the UK.. It’s a week aimed at promoting access to trustworthy health information and improving health literacy. I think we can all agree that’s worth promoting even outside of the UK!

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Pomodoro for health(y) writing
Sally Bathgate Sally Bathgate

Pomodoro for health(y) writing

At the beginning of a New Year, we often wonder how we can best manage our time. If you love productivity hacks, you’ve likely heard of the pomodoro technique. It can really help you stay on track with tasks and projects. But here, I’ll explore how you can use the pomodoro mini-breaks as health breaks and a load of great healthy habits into your day.

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2022: A year of health and medical writing in review
Sally Bathgate Sally Bathgate

2022: A year of health and medical writing in review

2022 has been a year of ups and downs, like those before it. But it remains clear that there’s still a great need for health and medical writers who are committed to producing quality, evidence-based and user-appropriate content.

I’m so glad to be part of the local and global community of health communications professionals making a difference to all patients with content that improves the safe and effective use of therapeutic goods and services.

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How to write about side effects in plain English
Sally Bathgate Sally Bathgate

How to write about side effects in plain English

We all know that medicines have benefits and risks. Doctors and patients weigh up the benefits of starting a medicine with the risks involved.

One aspect of the risk of a medicine is its side effects.

Medicines do have unwanted effects, and these need to be accurately disclosed to the patient.

But disclosing side effects in written patient information is “as much an art as a science” says Sylvia Roins, Chair of the Electronic Distribution Working Group for Consumer Medicine Information (CMI).

In Australia, the new CMI template helps medicine sponsors communicate side effects in a more user-friendly and patient-oriented way.

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My top 5 favourite COVID-19 related infographics
Sally Bathgate Sally Bathgate

My top 5 favourite COVID-19 related infographics

There’s a daily flood of data produced by the COVID-19 data fire hydrant. Coming to grips with it is challenging and exhausting. Translating that data into meaningful, and sometimes actionable, information for a lay audience is not a task for the faint of heart.

Here are five organisations/artists doing that task to an unbelievably high standard.

What are your favourite data visualisations?

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