This is “me”, reflecting on 2022. Care to read on and discover what’s happened?

It’s been a productive year here at Generate Health, but also one for patience, perseverance, and plasticity.

We’re all still feeling the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic; either directly (with illness) or indirectly (with our work).

What’s clear is that there is still a great need for health and medical writers who are committed to producing quality, evidence-based and user-appropriate content. We’re key in the fight against health and medical misinformation that continues to spread through our communities.

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

Health and medical writing projects of 2022

This year I’ve gravitated more towards projects that involve writing health and medical communications for consumers. Consumer health writing is something I’ve been doing since 2001, when as a junior regulatory affairs professional at Novartis I learned the science and art of writing Consumer Medicine Information (CMI). Twenty or so years later, I’m still drawing on these skills — and the experience gained over the ensuing years — to help create engaging, usable and accurate information, including:

Patient information handouts for GPs to use with their patients after a diagnosis.
Web content and copy for health businesses.
Health news articles, targeting particular keywords that boost SEO .

But every now and then I like to dive into some more technical writing - which lets me go deep into the medical scientific literature and write for health professionals on a broad range of medical areas from cardiovascular health to the latest cancer technologies. This year I got to work on:

Sponsored content for a medical news publisher.
New research summaries for Pharma review publication.
Product collateral for a telemedicine provider.

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Clients in 2022

This year I started working with some lovely new clients, as well as continuing with some of the clients I’ve been working with for many years now.

My new clients in 2022 were an eclectic bunch, from a highly specialised telemedicine service to a pregnancy and birth website for Aussie women. They all serve the health and wellbeing of Australians, whether it’s by providing better access to medical services or better health information for consumers and professionals.

My Emergency Doctor is the leading Australian emergency telemedicine service providing more convenient, quality, and timely access to emergency medical support around Australia.
BabyCenter Australia is the world's number one digital parenting resource reaching millions of new and expectant parents each month, our vision is to create a world of healthy pregnancies, thriving children, and confident parents.
Doctors&Co is partnering with health professionals Australia-wide to deliver the highest quality healthcare to patients while supporting the wellbeing and career satisfaction of healthcare workers.
The Medical Republic has gathered a group of like minded doctors, journos and publishers to spearhead digital news to healthcare professionals in the mobile social universe.
Research Review: provides high-quality medical education by harnessing the expertise of Australia's leading specialists to select and advise on the most important medical research and the local implications.

A cartoon image of a female doctor standing next to a oversized mobile phone with with health information on the screen. — Helping telehealth services with their digital customer communications has been a huge part of my health writing project work again this year.

I’m grateful to my long-term clients for sticking with me through the challenges of the pandemic and beyond.

Purely Content works towards better health outcomes and changing lives through effective healthcare communication with a focus on translating complex medical topics into consumer-friendly, clear and compelling content.
InstantScripts has been at the vanguard of Telehealth in Australia, even before the pandemic hit. InstantScripts has helped hundreds of thousands of Australians access health and medical services from the comfort of their homes, since 2018.
Commercial Eyes aims to have impact on the future of human health. They partner with a broad range of innovative therapeutic goods companies to help them to transform innovation into market realities.

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Developing my writing, business and SEO skills in 2022

The pandemic allowed us to explore more flexible ways of attending seminars and conferences, which continued into 2022. While this is still a core way to stay informed and ‘upskill’, webinars and online conferences are no replacement for face-to-face gatherings.

So it was a delight to meet, sometimes for the very first time in the flesh, some of my colleagues at events throughout 2022. My highlights were:

The experts presenting at the 2022 AMWA Conference in Sydney, who explored hear health misinformation; putting patients first and remaining mindful of cultural perspectives; and growing skills to become better medical writers. I particularly enjoyed the seminar from Sarah Spence of Content Copywriting on SEO and health information, and playing around with the plain language tool from xx

CopyCon 2022 covered topics including client management and content marketing, multicultural copywriting, health copywriting, SEO, personal branding and conquering imposter syndrome. It was great to be amongst the TCCS beasts, and be awed and inspired by the extraordinary people who make up this community.

A cartoon depiction of a laptop showing a grid of faces that represent and online meeting. — I attended my fair share of webinars this year, but it was great to be back in person for a few key meetings this year.

On a more personal note

As with any year - there were still ups and downs. Many have tried to move on from the difficulties of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the honest truth is that it still affects us all. My schedule wasn’t affected by lockdowns and home-schooling (phew!). But it was affected by rounds of COVID infection and other health concerns needing attention through out the year.

As medical and health writer, I’m still writing health stories, articles, patient leaflets and web copy related to the virus! And as a business owner, I’m still feeling the effects of bouts of illness in my household and lingering effects of the virus.

But, as in other years I’ve seen how working in my own business helps me adjust and adapt to the unfolding events and seasons. I can work with the greatest flexibility imaginable, without sacrificing my family values and commitments.

Thanks for being part of that journey, even if only as a reader of this post! What were your highlights of 2022?