We are always open to specialty-specific articles and articles on medical business. However, we are not currently open to articles on burnout, GLP-1s, AI/ChatGPT in medicine, EMR issues, or social media.

If you would like to write for us but don’t know where to start, please refer to the list of topics we are currently open to below. This is not an exhaustive list and should be used as a place to brainstorm. If you want to read a collection of our especially well-written articles, check out our 2023 Op-Med Awards.

Lessons Learned and How-Tos

Life and career advice from clinicians, for clinicians.

1. 5 Things I Wish I Knew About X— Examples: taking a research/gap/MPH year during med school, switching specialties, coding a medical encounter.
2. Lessons Learned— Examples: insights from popular culture/media, lectures, clinical experience, or people you’ve encountered in medicine (mentors, patients, students, etc.)
3. How To Talk to Your Patient About X— Examples: medical conspiracies, getting second opinions, off-label treatment, alternative treatments, taboo subjects.

Challenges in Medicine

Examining the issues in medicine that you, your colleagues, and your patients face.

1. Practical ways to address challenges in health care, or solutions-oriented discussion of issues in medicine— Examples: workplace safety, health care workforce evolution, structure of the health care system.
2. Recommendations/guidelines/training standards you don’t agree with— Examples: physical exam standards, specialty training, differences in care standards between patient populations.

Patient Encounters

1. Patient care or patient experiences through a specific lens— Examples: rural medicine; inner-city; disadvantaged populations.
2. Learning something new about a patient and how that changed your care for them— Examples: a patient interaction you had that changed your views.
3. Patient communication challenges and how you address them— Examples: managing a difficult conversation, certain strategies you may employ, or different ways to address patient education.

Primary Care and Public Health Topics

1. The challenges that emerging street drugs may pose to our patients and what we can do to help— Examples: caring for various populations, new standards of care, showing empathy for patients who are struggling with substance abuse.
2. Emerging drug safety data and its applications in a clinical setting.
3. Access to treatment and medications— Examples: considering cost issues and insurance coverage concerns.

Business of Medicine

1. Managing a private practice or business as a clinician. 
2. Retirement/financial planning in medicine.
3. Dealing with student loans, business loans, savings, and pay in medicine.
4. Scope of practice (please be respectful of other specialties and credentials).
5. Dealing with malpractice— Examples: prevention, malpractice insurance, experience with lawsuits, etc.
6. Out-of-the-box careers in medicine— Examples: careers in medicine that are not traditional, like a rodeo physician, army physician, clinician on a cruise ship, etc. 

Experiences at Medical Conferences

1. Emerging trends, practices, hot topics discussed at a medical conference— Examples: what challenges or opportunities your specialty is exploring and potential implications there are for medical professionals and patients.
2. Panel discussions and workshops— Examples: summarize key takeaways from panel discussions and workshops attended, highlighting important discussions, debates, and practical insights shared by experts.
3. Reflections on personal experiences, growth, and development.

Questions to Ask Yourself 

We want you to write about what feels personal and important to you. But if you need some inspiration on approaching a topic of your choosing, here are some prompts to consider that might assist your writing. 

• What is misunderstood about this topic? What do you wish people knew? 
• What do you not like about the current topic or conventional ways of discussing the topic, and how might you recommend it be improved? 
• How has your personal experience changed your view on an aspect of this topic? 
• If this is an issue you are passionate about, how did you get involved in this cause?
• How do you advocate for this in your health care practice?