Maximizing communication skills in graduate and postgraduate health-care education through medical writing.

Graduate and postgraduate health-care professional training and postdoctoral fellowship programs that deny trainees opportunities to practice both oral and written communication skills produce an incompletely trained health-care provider unable to compete for faculty positions at university hospitals and affiliated staffs. Therefore, it is imperative that program directors make medical writing a prerequisite to successful completion of postgraduate training programs. To make trainees as well as administrators and faculty aware of the importance of oral and written communication skills, a variety of oral abilities needed for presenting medical findings prior to publication are detailed. The use of 2 x 2 slides to support a presentation as well as transparencies, movies, and videotapes are considered. The poster session/scientific exhibit, now becoming more visible because of increasing attendance at professional meetings, is also explained. Written communication abilities are discussed. Consideration is given to the writing of professional manuscripts for publication in a refereed journal. Other types of written communication include case reports, clinicopathological conferences, letters to the editor, book reviews, books, and book contributions. The opportunity to learn needed skills must be offered in the postgraduate health-care curriculum. Mandatory medical writing will maximize the marketability of black health-care professionals for faculty staff placement. Moreover, the establishment of a "track record" early in a professional career will increase the likelihood that black health providers are awarded grants for research.