Six Safety Tips for Health Writers

by Kathy Summers

    
In the competition for assignments, health writers often rush to pitch health articles based on sensational new research results. Readers enjoy reading about medical breakthroughs and wonder cures. But without careful attention, writers may unintentionally exaggerate a claim or make light of a new study's shortcomings. Taking shortcuts, like using pre-packaged press release information without verifying facts, can lead to stories that unintentionally follow someone else's agenda rather than serving the reader. Here are six tips for keeping your stories on the safe side.

1. Understand it before you write it.  Start by reading the most current first-hand material available on your topic. Get clarification for technical terms that you or your readers may not understand. If a source uses an acronym, find out what it stands for. Some acronyms have more than one meaning, for example, ACS stands for American College of Surgeons and also American Cancer Society. 

2. Ask good questions.  Knowing what to ask can make or break an interview, especially when you need to interview research scientists and authors of new medical studies. Ask neutral questions first. To clear up any misunderstandings, ask for a summary of the methodology used. Ask about the most important implications for readers. For context, ask questions about the overall importance of the study or clinical trial. Ask what the other scientists are saying. Ask if it agrees or disagrees with previous studies or trials, or if it's the first of its kind. Ask about the scope of a doctors clinical experience.

3. Get corroborating data.  No matter how credible the source, don't rely on the information you get from an interview without any corroborating data. Get a copy of any report claims are based on. If the information was presented at a meeting, try to get a published abstract. If no journal article exists, ask your source if he or she knows of one in the works.

4. Put things in perspective. Call professional associations or advocacy groups and other scientists, and ask what they think. If you're writing on a controversial topic, get comments from independent sources. Seeking independent comments is a good way to find out if a topic is controversial. 

5. Look into vested interests.  Considering that few sources, being human, can be completely impartial, check out the affiliation of the authors of the study in question. Look for disclosure statements to find out who is sponsoring a study or if the authors are paid advisors to sponsoring companies. Find out if those involved are advocates known for their strong opinions for one side or another. None of this necessarily disproves a study's findings, but consider what the people involved have to gain or lose. 

6. Don't believe everything you read.  Even the peer review process isn't infallible. And you'd be surprised how easy it is for even a top journalist or editor on a tight deadline to take an unfortunate shortcut, only to be quoted or copied by other writers, who are quoted by still others, until the mistake is believed to be true. Use these articles as research material, but follow the information back to the original source before writing your article. 

     Writers who can distinguish between scientific and pseudoscientific information, and then tell a great story without misinterpreting or misrepresenting the facts, do a great service that can affect people's lives. Considering that, the rewards are well worth the extra effort to get it right.

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