How to Write an Active Vs Passive Voice for Medicine

In medical writing, the choice between active and passive voice is not just a stylistic preference but a tool for clarity and professional objectivity. Medicine students must navigate the transition from traditional passive-heavy clinical reporting to the active, direct communication favored by modern journals like The Lancet and JAMA.

What Is an Active Vs Passive Voice in Medicine?

Active voice occurs when the subject of the sentence performs the action (e.g., 'The physician administered the dose'), while passive voice occurs when the subject receives the action (e.g., 'The dose was administered'). In medicine, passive voice is traditionally used to emphasize the procedure or the patient over the researcher, whereas active voice is increasingly required to clarify responsibility in clinical decision-making and to make research findings more impactful.

Before You Start

• Review the 'Instructions for Authors' of your target medical journal (e.g., NEJM or BMJ) for specific voice preferences.
• Identify the 'actor' in your clinical scenario—is it the drug, the patient, the clinician, or the data?
• Distinguish between your 'Methods' section and your 'Discussion' section, as voice requirements often shift between them.
• Ensure you have a clear understanding of the chronological order of the clinical intervention or laboratory protocol.

Use Passive Voice for Standardized Clinical Methods

In the Methods section, the focus should remain on the protocol rather than the person performing it. Using the passive voice ensures the procedure appears reproducible and objective.

Example: Passive: 'A 5-mg dose of Lisinopril was administered daily to the hypertensive group.'

Tip: Avoid saying 'I gave the patients...'; the focus must be on the intervention itself.

Switch to Active Voice for Key Findings

When reporting the results of a clinical trial or observational study, the active voice makes the data feel more dynamic and definitive.

Example: Active: 'Our analysis suggests that the new monoclonal antibody reduces viral load by 40%.'

Tip: Use the data or the study as the subject to maintain academic tone while using active verbs.

Clarify Accountability in Case Reports

In case reports involving complex surgical interventions or diagnostic dilemmas, use active voice to clearly state who made a specific clinical decision.

Example: Active: 'The surgical team opted for an emergency laparotomy after the patient's hemodynamic status deteriorated.'

Tip: Use active voice when multiple teams (e.g., radiology and oncology) are involved to avoid ambiguity.

Employ Passive Voice to Protect Patient Anonymity

Passive voice can naturally de-emphasize the individual patient, which helps maintain a professional distance and focus on the pathology.

Example: Passive: 'The patient was diagnosed with stage IV glioblastoma following an MRI scan.'

Tip: Passive voice is useful here because the 'actor' (the person diagnosing) is less important than the diagnosis itself.

Use Active Voice for the Discussion and Conclusion

The Discussion section is where you interpret data. Active voice conveys confidence in your conclusions and helps you engage with existing medical literature.

Example: Active: 'We conclude that early intervention with statins prevents secondary cardiovascular events in this cohort.'

Tip: Verbs like 'recommend,' 'suggest,' and 'conclude' work best in the active voice.

Describe Biological Processes in the Active Voice

When explaining pathophysiology, the active voice accurately reflects the dynamic nature of biological systems.

Example: Active: 'Insulin facilitates the uptake of glucose into myocytes via the GLUT4 transporter.'

Tip: Treat biological molecules as the 'actors' to create a clearer physiological narrative.

Eliminate Wordiness by Converting Passive to Active

Medical papers often suffer from wordiness. Converting passive sentences into active ones can significantly reduce your word count for journals with strict limits.

Example: Passive (14 words): 'It was observed by the researchers that there was an increase in the heart rate.' vs Active (10 words): 'Researchers observed an increase in the heart rate among participants.'

Tip: Scan your draft for 'was' and 'by' to identify candidates for active voice conversion.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Overusing passive voice in the Abstract, making the summary feel sluggish and difficult to read.
• Using 'The author' as an active subject instead of using 'We' or the study name, which can sound overly formal.
• Vague passive constructions like 'It is thought that...' without citing who thinks it or what evidence supports it.
• Switching voices inconsistently within a single paragraph describing a surgical procedure.
• Using passive voice to hide a lack of evidence or to avoid taking a stance on a controversial clinical finding.

Pro Tips

• Check the AMA Manual of Style; it generally encourages active voice for clarity while allowing passive voice for methods.
• Use active voice when citing other researchers to clearly attribute findings: 'Smith et al. found...' rather than 'It was found by Smith et al...'
• If a sentence starts with 'There is' or 'There are', it is likely a weak construction that could be improved with active verbs.
• Read your 'Results' section aloud; if the passive voice makes the data sound boring, rephrase the key outcomes into the active voice.
• Reserve passive voice for when the receiver of the action is the most important element of the sentence.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it okay to use 'I' or 'We' in medical research papers?

Yes, modern medical journals like the BMJ and Nature Medicine encourage the use of 'We' to clearly state the researchers' actions and interpretations, moving away from the 'stilted' third-person passive style.

Should the 'Methods' section always be in passive voice?

While passive voice is standard to emphasize the protocol, you can use active voice if it makes a complex multi-step process easier to follow, such as 'We sequentially titrated the dosage...'

Which voice is better for a medical case study?

A mix is best. Use passive voice for the patient's presentation and history, but use active voice to describe the specific interventions and the clinical reasoning of the medical team.

Does active voice sound less objective in medicine?

No, as long as the focus remains on the evidence. Active voice often sounds more transparent because it clearly identifies who performed an action or made an observation.

Related Resources

• How to Write an Active Vs Passive Voice for Computer Science

• How to Write an Active Vs Passive Voice for Biology

• How to Write an Active Vs Passive Voice for Psychology

• How to Write a Sentence Rewriting for Medicine

• How to Write Topic Sentences for Medicine

• How to Write a Paragraph Structure for Medicine

• Find Peer-Reviewed Sources with Sourcely

• Polish Your Writing with Revise AI