Medical Writer Apprentice Programs: Who Has Them, What Are They Like, and Do We Need More? Survey Results From 2022

Abstract

In 2022, the American Medical Writers Association (AMWA) established a taskforce to develop a survey to understand the current state of medical writer apprentice programs and the desire for a standard framework to help guide the development of such programs. The survey was targeted to contributors who were actively responsible for leading and/or training and developing a medical writing team and was administered by using SurveyMonkey. A total of 78 responses were received, with the largest percentage of respondents primarily working in pharmaceutical/biotech/medical device companies (44%), followed by contract research organizations (CROs)/medical writing companies (23%), and medical writing consultancies (10%). The survey revealed that less than half (42%) of survey respondents’ companies currently have an established apprentice program, and that CROs (73%) and medical writing-specific consultancies (57%) were more likely to have apprentice programs than pharmaceutical/biotech/device companies (24%). The respondents also provided details about the goals, training styles, structures, and durations of existing programs. Importantly, regardless of whether respondents’ companies already have an apprentice program, the majority of respondents felt it would be useful to have a standard framework for an apprentice program either to refine existing programs or to develop a new program. Therefore, the AMWA Executives Advisory Council established an Apprenticeship Framework Working Group to develop a standard yet flexible framework for companies to use as an adaptable resource as they develop their own apprentice programs. The development of this framework is ongoing at the time of publication of this article.