Dear colleagues:
I am excited to announce the FOURTH annual Conference on Teaching Writing in the Health Professions (WIHPcon). We invite proposals for 15-minute individual presentations, 45-minute panels, and asynchronous video posters. The due date is April 1.
WIHPcon offers a sizable, international venue for sharing your instructional strategies and research in progress. Last year, we had ~350 attendees from 151 organizations and 14 countries. WIHPcon is also richly interdisciplinary, attracting folks from writing studies, writing center administration, tech comm, the health humanities, law, library science and informatics, ESL/EFL, medical education, nursing, and veterinary science, among other fields. You can check out the 2024 program here: https://wihpconference.wordpress.com/
As always, WIHPcon will be fully online and free of charge.
Ready to submit? Please email your proposal to wihpconference, using the subject header "Conference paper submission."
If you have any questions, feel free to contact me directly: Michael.Madson.
Full CFP pasted below.
The FOURTH Annual Conference on Teaching Writing in the Health Professions (WIHPcon)
Fully online and free of charge
Friday June 6, 2025
Submit proposals to wihpconference by April 1
Writing instruction tailored for the health professions is becoming high demand. Indeed, scholarship on writing instruction has regularly appeared not only in journals dedicated to composition and technical communication, but in those dedicated to medicine, nursing, pharmacy, and allied health, among other fields. An increasing number of training programs have established writing courses that explore healthcare themes, foster competencies expected of health workers, and/or are formal part of licensure programs. There is growing recognition that the success of healthcare organizations relies largely on the writing done within it [1].
Supporting these trends, numerous textbooks have been developed for health professions students [2-6], who need to “write at times like a sociologist, at others like a philosopher, yet again like a scientist and finally as a reflective practitioner!” [7(p.
188)]. Unfortunately, there are fewer supports for writing instructors in this area, including health professions educators who want to improve how they teach writing, writing specialists who want to better understand health professions training, and others seeking professional development and a broader community of colleagues. Surveys of faculty development needs in the health professions have, time and again, emphasized writing and teaching [8-10], and calls have sounded for additional knowledge sharing [11-14].
Building on our previous three conferences, we again call together presenters across disciplines to share their instructional insights and research in progress, drawing on the spirit of interprofessional education. We invite 15-minute individual presentations, 45-minute panels, and asynchronous posters on any aspect of writing in the health professions – clinical, scholarly, reflective, or public.
Specific topics may include:
– assignment design
– curriculum development
– program management
– feedback practices
– needs assessments
– professional identity formation
– health literacy
– the health humanities
– educational psychology
– clinician resilience and wellbeing
– cultural humility
– educational research methods
– artificial intelligence
There will also be networking opportunities for those interested in research collaborations across institutions.
References
1. Opel DS, Hart-Davidson W. The primary care clinic as writing space. Written Communication. 2019 Jul;36(3):348-78.
2. Arntfield MA & Johnston JW. Healthcare writing: a practical guide to professional success. Broadview Press; 2016.
3. Bonk RJ. Writing for today’s healthcare audiences. Broadview Press; 2015.
4. Heifferon, B. Writing in the health professions. Longman; 2005.
5. Long TL & Beck CT. Writing in nursing: a brief guide. OUP; 2016.
6. Terryberry K. Writing for the health professions. Cengage; 2004.
7. Baynham M. Academic writing in new and emergent discipline areas. In: Clarke J, Hanson A, Harrison R, Reeve F, eds. Supporting Lifelong Learning: Volume I: Perspectives on Learning. Routledge; 2001:188-202.
8. Behar-Horenstein LS, Beck DE, Su Y. Perceptions of pharmacy faculty need for development in educational research. Curr Pharm Teach Learn. 2018 Jan 1;10(1):34-40.
9. Haden NK, Chaddock M, Hoffsis GF, Lloyd JW, Reed WM, Ranney RR, Weinstein GJ. Preparing faculty for the future: AAVMC members’ perceptions of professional development needs. J Vet Med Educ. 2010 Sep;37(3):220-32.
10. Smith A, Hardinger K. Perceptions of faculty development needs based on faculty characteristics. Curr Pharm Teach Learn. 2012 Oct 1;4(4):232-9.
11. Hawks SJ, Turner KM, Derouin AL, Hueckel RM, Leonardelli AK, Oermann MH. Writing across the curriculum: strategies to improve the writing skills of nursing students. Nurs Forum. 2016 Oct; 51(4): 261-267.
12. Riley E. Exploring strategies to enhance scholarly writing for RN-BSN students using an online tutorial. Teach Learn Nurs 2019 Apr 1;14(2):128-34.
13. Madson MJ, editor. Teaching writing in the health professions: Perspectives, problems, and practices. Routledge; 2022.
14. Madson MJ, editor. Composing health literacies: Perspectives and resources for undergraduate writing instruction. Routledge; 2023.