Writing for Today's Healthcare Audiences by Robert J Bonk

Writing for Today's Healthcare Audiences by Robert J Bonk

Primarily designed for students seeking careers in healthcare communication, this book also serves as a useful guide for nascent practitioners. Healthcare writing audiences are diversifying, from traditional physicians and patients to administrators in government and insurance groups as well as technical practitioners. Writing for these increasingly diverse healthcare audiences is the focus of this book, which has just enough theory to lay groundwork, plentiful examples to illustrate how theory is practiced, summaries that highlight key points, and realistic practice exercises.

In addition to the emphasis on diverse audiences, the book stresses the importance of the writing process, from pre-writing to final editing. The book includes writing checklists for completeness and accuracy, and it incorporates many helpful real-world examples of healthcare documentation.

“Robert JBonk, the noted authority on writing in the pharmaceutical industry, provides highly useful and sensible coverage of what writers need to know to craft texts within a range of healthcare professions. In concise chapters that make good use of sample documents from many medical contexts, Bonk relies on a solid rhetorical underpinning to encourage writers to be alert to the importance of purpose, audience, and genre in designing medical documents. He covers the practicalities of researching and writing from medical sources, and he offers advice on designing both documents and their accompanying visuals. Bonk’s book should prove popular on many campuses in the growing number of undergraduate courses in healthcare communication.” — Stephen A. Bernhardt, University of Delaware

“I particularly value Bonk’s attention to the different kinds of potential audiences for healthcare information, the purposes the writing might need to serve, and the ethics involved in presenting such material. Putting ethics right up front, then showing how those ethics apply (even at the beginning of the process when you are selecting sources of information), is an essential part of becoming an effective healthcare writer. This book is also notable for how well it integrates the mechanics of clear communication with real-world examples of texts healthcare writers need to produce.” — Lili Fox Vélez, Scientific Writer and Editor

Robert J. Bonk is Professor of Professional Writing and Director of Professional Writing Programs at Widener University.