Wikipedia:Wikipedia medicine standards

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This page is for working out standards referring to articles in the field of medicine and related fields.

Information about health is radically different from information in other fields. Often it is sought by concerned patients or relatives, sometimes looking for help in incurable or chronic diseases. It would be immoral and irresponsible to offer misguided or incorrect advice without proper context of nature of Wikipedia authorship.
Open, unverifiable and fluctuant medical articles content must be put in the right perspective with a kind of obligatory disclaimer.

The purpose[edit]

  1. set standards
    1. health related information must be accurate, correct and balanced
    2. health related information must be based on scientific research
    3. where there is doubt or inconsistency it must be clearly stated
    4. opinions must be attributed
  2. set nomenclature
  3. ideally every statement should be based on reliable sources (references)
    1. references should conform to requirements of International Committee of Medical Journal Editors
  4. clearly state sources of information
    1. reliable sources of scientific information
      1. PubMed access to Medline
      2. Search The British Medical Journal archives 1994-now
      3. Medline Plus
      4. Merck Manuals
      5. The Virtual Hospital
    2. reliable sources of patient orientated information
  5. Evidence-based medicine
  6. articles about pharmaceuticals should (with a few exceptions like Viagra, Valium or Prozac) be named after the international name not the brand name (e.g. lorazepam not Ativan) and brand names should redirect to the proper article
  7. remove bias and misconceptions
  8. articles in edit war that can expose readers to potentially harmful (quackery) information should be blocked and discussion carried on elsewhere
  9. create patient information e.g. Patient information on diabetes that can accompany scientific articles - Diabetes, Diabetes mellitus, Diabetes mellitus type 1 etc.
    1. keep scientific articles readable but leave patient information strictly to specific articles. Too many medical articles suffer from a heritage of half-digested patient advisories
  10. structure articles according to conventions (to be developed)

The obligatory disclaimer[edit]

Boilerplate disclaimer:

'''DISCLAIMER'''
:''Please remember that Wikipedia is offered for informational use only. The information is in most cases not reviewed by professionals. You are advised to contact your doctor for health-related decisions.''

See also: The Health On the Net Foundation

(see Wikipedia:Boilerplate text for other disclaimers, etc.)

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