Medical and Healthcare Writing, Post-Baccalaureate Certificate

About the Program

The graduate certificate in Medical and Healthcare Writing is designed for working professionals who are seeking to enhance their communication skills or transition into new careers in medical and healthcare writing, technical communication, and scientific writing. Professional writing cultivates writing for the digital workplace; specializes in multimedia writing, visual rhetoric, usability, and emergent technologies, as well as print and digital publishing; and emphasizes collaboration, community service, and open-source development and documentation.

Program Requirements

9 Credits Required

Program Learning Outcomes

Students will:

• Identify the written, spoken, and media genres that are common in medical, and healthcare industries.
• Demonstrate how to write a process-centered text in medical and healthcare workplaces, specifically protocols and instructions.
• Develop patient educational materials appropriate for a variety of medical and healthcare uses.
• Explain a medical or healthcare issue by producing an feature article for a magazine or journal.
• Interpret and analyze a request for proposals (RFP) and identify the “problem” that initiated the RFP by determining its causes and effects.
• Develop clear objectives, outcomes, and deliverables that will make a project attractive to a client.
• Employ strategies for doing substantive editing on larger documents in scientific, technical, medical, and healthcare professional settings.

Graduate Programs Disclaimer

• The student is ultimately responsible for knowing and completing all degree requirements. Students should consult with their advisor/department for more information.
• Not all graduate programs may be actively recruiting students and course modality availability may vary. 
• Please refer to the Explore Graduate Programs website for a list of currently available graduate programs.
• Transfer credit policy: Credits earned for graduate study at other universities (both domestic and international) may be applied toward an advanced degree. Only credit hours associated with graduate courses for which grades of B- or better were obtained will be eligible for transfer. Any additional conditions under which credit transfers may be made are determined by the various departments.
• Comparative information about Purdue University and other U.S. educational institutions is also available through the College Navigator tool, provided by the National Center for Education Statistics, and through the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard.