7/24/2023 0 Comments Medical writer iIt was, in fact, the pressure to completely skew the work-life balance towards work that eventually led me to quit research and become a medical writer. Mine was infamous for expressions such as “students should always be familiar with the current literature, but never be seen to be reading (only doing experiments)” or “What do you think this is, a country club?” Many of the students in my lab were prone to sneak out of the laboratory, leaving their coats on the coat rack so that our laboratory leader would think that they were still working. It was common in academic laboratories in those days (sadly, many students tell me that it still is) for the laboratory leader to stress that a career in science required a complete focus on work and a near total neglect of life. These were the ‘brave new world’ days of molecular biology as gene cloning had only just become a common household word. Like many other medical writers, my education led me to a biology (molecular genetics) laboratory doing research for my PhD. For me, the take-home point of this is that having and maintaining a healthy work-life balance is what all these people have learned from their long lives.Īlthough this seems self-evident today, the importance of a healthy work-life balance is a relatively recent concept. I have never seen even one where the person regretted not working more, but many expressed their advice for young people as some version of “taking time to stop and smell the roses”. What is so fascinating about these individual testimonials is that everyone looks back over their lives and talks about what their lives have taught them. The research results in favour of a healthy work-life balance are fairly convincing in my opinion, but there is another line of evidence, which, although not normally considered strong evidence, is nevertheless most intriguing – case studies of people nearing the end of their lives, either due to disease or advanced age (2). This really ought to be obvious, one would think, as any form of activity (physical or mental) cannot be done continuously and requires occasional breaks for peak performance. Certainly, my personal experience is that I can never perform my best, whether writing, managing, or presenting a workshop, when I am stressed or burnt out from the lack of a healthy work-life balance. ![]() I think that even a moment’s consideration would suggest why this would be true. Nevertheless, spending some six years in a molecular biology laboratory and 30 years as a medical writer (in both a small company and in Big Pharma) gives me a broad experience from which to draw in what I believe are a few general principles of what is a good work-life balance as a medical writer and how to achieve it.Ī number of recent sociology studies have indicated that the happiest and, perhaps even more importantly, most effective and productive people in a wide range of occupations are those with a good work-life balance (1). One quickly realises that the perfect work-life balance is not some objective state, but rather something very subjective, and thus will differ for every person. Unfortunately, a brief browse around the internet reveals that there are many and varied definitions of the concept and suggestions on how best to achieve an ideal state of work-life balance. That is what life means, and that is what life is for,” said George Leigh Mallory, pioneering British mountaineer who vanished near the summit of Mount Everest in 1924, almost 30 years before the first successful summit.Įvery age seems to have its buzzwords, and the ‘work-life balance’ would appear to be one of the prime candidates for our current age. We eat and make money to be able to enjoy life. In any industry, there is considerable evidence of the value and improved productivity for those who maintain a healthy work-life balance, and we should not forget that a near total neglect of life is not sustainable. Clinical Study Protocols: The Pillars of Clinical Development.Special Edition: Medical Writing – A Bold New Path: The Future Awaits Us.Special Edition: Medical Writing: The Backbone of Clinical Development.Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies (REMS).Periodic Benefit Risk Evaluation Report (PBRER).Periodic Adverse Drug Experience Report (PADER). ![]() ![]() Development Safety Update Report (DSUR).120 Day Safety Update (4 Month Safety Update).Investigational Medicinal Product Dossier (IMPD).
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