Alejandra Viviescas

Incorporating the patient’s voice into continuing medical education (CME) and continuing education (CE) activities has the potential to enhance shared decision-making (SDM) and patient-centered care by making educational content more engaging and reflective of real-world experiences. Medical writers can play a pivotal role in this process by integrating patient narratives, testimonials, and perspectives into CME/CE materials and by effectively working with patients as subject matter experts. This article examines the importance of incorporating patient-centered care and SDM into clinical practice. The article also highlights how CME/CE activities can serve as essential tools to support this integration and discusses how medical writers can contribute to this process.

Alejandra Viviescas, a freelance medical writer, shares her journey from academia to medical writing and her motivation to improve the relationship between healthcare providers and patients. She discusses her flywheel concept for client acquisition and how it streamlines her business. Alejandra emphasizes the importance of having standard operating procedures (SOPs) and checklists to optimize workflow and reduce anxiety. She also highlights the value of a niche and how her multilingual background influences her work in continuing medical education (CME). Her advice for freelance writers is to find what works for them, start small, and tackle one process at a time.