Certificate Overview
Are you planning a career in the healthcare field or working there already? Oregon Tech’s Technical & Medical Writing certificate can help prepare you for the job market or boost your skills while on the job. This certificate starts with core writing principles from composition and technical writing and then builds in healthcare-specific content through electives in medical terminology, health communication, and medical sociology. Whether you plan to work directly with patients or in an administrative role, clear writing is key in healthcare, and this certificate will boost your writing skills for a technical and medical context.
Graduates of the Online Technical & Medical Writing certificate should be able to:
- Analyze needs of the audience, situation, and stakeholders unique to the health professions.
- Use language and conventions of medical communities to produce audience-specific documents and genres in the health care profession.
- Identify, analyze, and solve communication problems for multiple audiences with medical information needs.
- Use accepted rhetorical, linguistic and design theories to craft user- and reader-centered documents.
- Design and create documents using a variety of industry-standard tools.
- Demonstrate professionally-appropriate ethical reasoning, including awareness of intellectual property in the creation and management of documents.
- Manage the production of complex, large-scale projects and their related documentation.
You can complete this 19-credit certificate in as little as 9 months, or complete it at a slower pace to meet your needs.
Certificate Courses
Core Courses (11 credits)
- WRI 121Z Composition I (first course)
- WRI 227Z Technical Writing
- WRI 327 Advanced Technical Writing or WRI 350 Documentation Development
Focus Classes (8 credits)
- BIO 200 Medical Terminology
- COM 346 Health Communication or PWR 306 Writing for the Health Professions
- BUS 313 Health Care Systems & Policy or SOC 205 Current Health Issues or SOC 225 Medical Sociology
The Technical and Medical Writing certificate includes 19 credits of coursework. Those who complete 21 or more credits of coursework are eligible for an Honors designation on the certificate. This certificate can be stacked with the UX Writing certificate and the Proposal & Grant Writing certificate.
Admission Process
Full admission to Oregon Tech is not required. Financial aid is not offered to non-degree seeking students but a payment plan is available. Follow the steps below to get started:
- Submit the Non-Degree Seeking Application. Select the online Technical and Medical Writing Certificate as your major.
- Watch for an email from the Admissions Office about registration.
- Register yourself for classes when registration opens.
Students using Veteran Affairs benefits should apply to Oregon Tech using the Online First-Year or Online Transfer application instead of the Non-Degree Seeking application.
Non-degree seeking students do not pay application fees since they are not attending a degree program and are limited to 8 credits per term.
Once registered you are responsible for the tuition and fees. The payment and refund schedule, along with the payment plan application, is located on the Cashier’s Office website. The Academic Calendar details important registration dates and withdraw deadlines.
Awarding the Certificate
Oregon Tech awards formal certificates upon completion of all requirements. The Registrar's Office advises soon-to-be graduates to submit the Application for Degree two terms before completing the certificate. A certificate cannot be awarded without the application found in TechWeb.
Accreditation
Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities
Oregon Institute of Technology is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. NWCCU is an institutional accrediting body recognized by the Council for Higher Education and/or the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education.