Writing to a Brief: Antimicrobial Resistance
Victoria Anne Wise
In 1928, Sir Alexander Fleming accidentally discovered penicillin at St. Mary’s Hospital in London. As a Professor of Bacteriology, he had a reputation as an excellent researcher, and he’d been looking into staphylococci. His experiments culminated in the isolation of penicillin from mold, which forever changed medicine. In 1945, Fleming, Howard Florey, and Ernst Chain received the Nobel Peace Prize. They had all played a part in discovering penicillin and its incredible powers. However, even back then, Fleming’s Nobel Lecture warned of antibiotic resistance: “The time may come when penicillin can be bought by anyone in the shops. Then there is the danger that the ignorant man may easily underdose himself and by exposing his microbes to non-lethal quantities of the drug make them resistant,” said Fleming.²
I have a huge love for science.
I find our scientific discoveries through history fascinating. We've changed the world and our life expectancies in mere years. That's pretty damn cool. So, when HealthMatch assigned this article to me, you know I was thrilled to learn more about antimicrobial resistance. Not a sentence you hear people say every day, that's for sure.
(But this is the sort of passion I can bring to your content!)
How did I create this article?
🟥 First, I took a good look at the article brief and checked out the sources they provided. Naturally, I went on a huge Google session and ended up with about fifty separate tabs to draw information from.
🟧 I chose the most interesting stats to turn into section headings.
🟨 I filled in these sections with lots of fantastic information and simplified the language as much as possible. A key part of HealthMatch's brand voice is to ensure content isn't alarmist. That can be tricky when you're dealing with genuinely alarming things!
🟩 I found graphics/statistics for the design team to work with to create illustrations for the piece.
🟦 I did my final copy-edit and proofread before submitting it to the team at HealthMatch. Their editor made some final edits before publishing it. Now the world knows more about antimicrobial resistance! Eek. (It's for your own good.)
As a regular writer and editor for HealthMatch, I've written and edited many health articles. This means a few things for you:
🟥 I'm adept at turning subpar, complex content into delightfully readable and compassionate copy.
🟧 Digging into scientific studies to translate them into easy-to-understand articles for the general public is a key skill of mine.
🟨 I regularly write about things I have personal experience with, so I can take a compassionate, empathic approach. Readers feel seen and heard. There's nothing better than someone who validates your concerns.
🟩 My content provides real, actionable advice. If you need to see a therapist or doctor, my article will tell you. If it's something you can handle on your own, my content empowers you.
🟦 Everything I write is backed by research. No anecdotal claims here!
🟪 As an editor and writer, my work is error-free and ready to publish.
And what does HealthMatch have to say?
Victoria is an incredibly gifted writer and totally nails the brief every time. She brings her own style and skill set but works incredibly well within our company voice and guidelines. Victoria not only takes our ideas and executes them perfectly but brings her own to the table, too. I can't recommend her enough!
