Gary Miranda, the author and principal investigator, is seeking funds under the National Library of Medicine Publication Grant Program to support completion of a book manuscript, Vital Signs: Towards A New Model of Medical Writing. The book examines the origins and nature of modern medical writing as an offshoot of the natural science model of writing, analyzes its strengths and limitations, and offers specific suggestions on how to broaden its range -- specifically in light of the current dialogue about expanding the biomedical paradigm of disease. The book focuses on the issue of whether the current model of medical writing continues to serve the scientific, social, and human ends of medicine and medical research. Funds from the publication grant will support the author's released time (20%) from his position as writer and technical editor at the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research in Portland, Oregon, as well as to cover expenditures for travel, office supplies, phone interviews, and interlibrary loan requests. The long-term aim of this project is to contribute to the medical community's goal of preparing physicians and medical researchers for the broadening social and human obligations of medicine in the twenty-first century. The specific contribution of this project is that it is the first book to analyze medical writing in the context of this goal, and that it presents a unique, humanistic viewpoint of a nationally established writer.
