Abstract
Editing services within academic health centers are uncommon, and few studies have reported on their impact. In this article, we describe our medical writing center’s editing service for faculty and trainees at a pediatric teaching hospital and associated outcomes of scholarly products (e.g., manuscripts and grants) over an 8-year period. Data for manuscripts and grant proposals edited by the writing center from 2015 through 2022 were collected electronically from our service request database. Outcome data on publications and grant proposals were regularly collected up to 12 months post-submission. Users were also asked if the writing center edits were helpful, improved readability, and if they planned to use the service in the future. From 2015 through 2022, the writing center received 697 requests, 88.4% to edit a document. Of the documents edited, 81.3% of manuscripts and 44.4% of grant proposals were successfully published or funded. When rating their experience, 97.8% of respondents rated the edits “helpful,” 96.7% indicated the edits “improved readability,” and 99.3% stated they planned to use the writing center in the future. Our results showed steady use of the writing center and high satisfaction with services. A writing center can be an effective tool to support psychology faculty development.
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All authors contributed to the study design and conception. Data collection and analysis were performed by MC and JH. Sections of the first draft of the manuscript were written by HM and JH, and all authors reviewed and commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Heather C. McNeill, Jacqueline D. Hill, Myles Chandler, Eric T. Rush, and Martha Montello declare that they have no conflict of interest.
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The study was deemed non-human subjects research by the Children’s Mercy Kansas City Institutional Review Board (#00002920).
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Previous Presentations: Portions of these data were presented at the Association of American Medical Colleges Central Group on Educational Affairs conference in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on April 5, 2024.
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McNeill, H.C., Hill, J.D., Chandler, M. et al. The Medical Writing Center Model in an Academic Teaching Hospital. J Clin Psychol Med Settings (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10880-024-10020-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10880-024-10020-w