Guest Post: AuthorAID Workshops on Medical Writing: Fun, Learning, Motivation, and l

[This post is from Dr. Farooq Rathore, who recently received an AuthorAID workshop grant. Thank you, Farooq, for this excellent post. And congratulations on making such productive use of the grant! —Barbara]

I recently conducted 8 half-day AuthorAID-sponsored workshops on “Making medical writing easy for the beginners”. The workshops were a great learning experience for both the facilitators and the participants.

Dr. Nasir Mansoor was my co-facilitator and conducted 4 workshops with me. I conducted the other 4 workshops myself. When I applied for the grant, I planned to conduct 5 workshops. However, I ended up delivering 8 workshops at 3 different places—all within the allocated 2500 USD. Here’s how we accomplished this task:

• I recruited a resident, Dr. Imran Ahmad, as an administration coordinator. His job was to roam around and check the market rates for posters, folders, and workshop stationery and the printing costs for the AuthorAID stickers and certificates. He did a wonderful job, and we bought all the items in bulk in order to reduce the cost. He also entered online into Survey Monkey the data from all the feedback forms, so that I could allocate that time to preparing for the next workshop.
• Dr. Nasir is posted 500 km from my place (Lahore). We needed to collaborate and decide on the format and length of the workshops and prepare slides. We both used Dropbox to share slides and keep each other updated without the hassle of sending emails with big attachments.
• Dr. Nasir and I would sit down and talk before the workshop. Also, based on the feedback (which was overwhelmingly positive), we planned the changes for the next workshop. To make the workshops more interactive and less boring, we designed 4 hands-on exercises and also inserted random funny images and memes to keep the audience engaged.
• I am a great fan of TED Talks, which are an amazing source of inspiration, food for thought, and humor. I used this opportunity to introduce the workshop participants to TED talks. During the tea breaks and lunch breaks I played TED talks related to success, humor, and inspiration. These were very much appreciated by the audience, who had never experienced this thing before in a workshop.
• We charged the participants in 3 workshops a minimal amount (5–10 USD) and then used the funds to conduct another workshop.

These workshops were attended by more than 200 people (senior medical faculty, postgraduate trainees, house officers, medical students, nurses, and physical therapists) from more than 8 institutions. Many others wanted to attend but couldn’t do so, given limitations of seating and facilities at the workshop venues.

These workshops have inspired Nasir and me to regularly conduct this educational activity at different places. I have already sent out letters of interest and workshop proposals to a couple of medical colleges. We now have in place a team that can hold a half-day workshop on “Making Medical writing easy for the beginners” with 1 week’s notice.

I thank AuthorAID for giving me this opportunity.

Farooq