The editorial policy encompasses all the editable material on GuideTreatments.com. All that falls under different elements of the website – landing page, navigation, guidelines and recommendations and all that can be covered under content management of the website are covered under this policy.
Editors: All editors have to confirm her/his expertise in the context of the content created. It is naturally expected that the editor will possess clinical experience of at least 5 years in the field of relevant content material. The editors may contribute as an individual or a group. Each member of the groups shall be bound under the editorial policy contained herewith. The selection of editor(s) will be at the sole discretion of the selection committee duly appointed for GuideTreatments.com
Content: The content on the website is created to allow medical practitioners to commence treatment across various medical conditions. The summarised tone of the content is based on medical management of conditions. The overall content is distributed and organised as per the design team and editors will have contributing role over which section the content appears. Apart from the landing page and front page links, all the content will be distributed into various relevant medical systems. These medical systems are as per the most relevant guidance from national and international healthcare organisations. These systems are subject to editing depending on changes in medical knowledge.
Medical conditions: All clinical conditions which can be diagnosed are considered under these sections. All the medical conditions are deemed to be mentioned in its most popular nomenclature. Medical words and Latin nomenclature may be used but care has to be taken to avoid over-complications. Wherever possible it is expected that the editorial team shall provide the commonest and most valid English name to the medical condition. All medical conditions will be contained within systems. The editorial committee may choose to put one medical condition under two different systems if the medical condition is equivalently relevant in two systems.
End user characteristics: GuideTreatments.com predicts that the content provided will be useable and consumed by all medical doctors with license to practice medicine within the jurisdiction of Indian government, its’ states and union territories. It is expected that the end user would be able to read the guideline within a few short minutes and apply it to her/his clinical practice. As such the guidelines have to be clear, concise and coherent.
Creating guidelines: All guidelines will use an approved formatting procedure. This involves providing an initial summary or introduction of the medical condition in approximately 50 words. The initial summary appears on the tile allocated for each medical condition and allows the end user to predict if the said guideline would be relevant to read. The guidelines are not intended to educate the end user in diagnosis and thus limited space will be allocated for signs and symptoms. This is followed by primary treatments which typically involves prescribe-able medicines. All the medicinal recommendations shall have their form, brand name (if applicable), content including strength, prescription method and duration. Only those medicines which are approved by the core committee and brands which are approved by the advertising committee shall be presented in the guidelines. All the primary treatments shall be based on treatments which have valid and applicable evidence of clinical effectiveness. The evidence is deemed to change over time and as such all the guidelines are subject to regular reviews. All recommendations shall aim to reduce excessive use of combination therapies wherever possible. Secondary treatments shall include all that may be needed to support patient care. It is not necessary to recommend secondary treatments if primary treatment is deemed sufficient. General advice is considered as all that is informed to the patient in terms of improving self-care. The information under general advice is required to be concise, simple and easily executable with minimal wordage. Wherever indicated surgical options could be suggested but the details are beyond the scope of the website. Investigations are to be suggested which may help improve patient diagnosis and as a prognostic indicator. The investigations suggested are those which are executable under the provisions of Indian healthcare environment and its availability at a local level. Referrals are to be suggested for all the unmanageable cases. Referrals are based on the speciality which is considered as the most prominent in treating the said medical condition. Naming of individual clinicians is strictly prohibited. The guidelines may provide external links which are relevant in the context of information provided. Under exceptional circumstances could the guidelines contain images or videos. The overall use of images or videos is unfavourable since it reduces the end user experience in terms of uploading and internet speed.
Re-editing and updating of guidelines: All the guidelines are under strict obligation for regular reviews and updates to ensure that they are relevant and in tune with changes in medical evidence. This also applies to commercial pharmaceutical preparations which may change over time and may change in terms of their suitability and availability.
Ownership of guidelines: The ownership of the guidelines contained in the website shall remain solely with GuideTreatments.com. The editor(s) may share a link to the guideline onto other media with explicit permission of the editorial team at GuideTreatments.com. All guidelines published on GuideTreatments.com are covered under the copyright act and any attempts to reproduce, copy in full or part will be subject to legal provisions under the same.
Privacy: Personal privacy is of utmost significance to GuideTreatments.com. As such the details of editors shall never be revealed to any third party under any circumstances. GuideTreatments.com shall continue to seek feedbacks from end users which can be passed over to the editors on a regular basis. All the end user details are subject to our privacy policy and no end user details shall be revealed to the editors.