General guidelines on creating chapters and microchapters

Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]

Overview

The following is a guide to creating your chapters and microchapters. A chapter is a collection of smaller chapters called microchapters. For instance, the disease pericarditis is a chapter composed of multiple microchapters such as pericarditis overview, pericarditis pathophysiology, pericarditis treatment etc. Microchapters have been created to allow users to access the content they are looking for more efficiently, and to improve the speed with which the chapters load and display on mobile devices. Please see the following chapters which are excellent examples of how create and structure chapters and microchapters:

• Pericarditis

Grammar

Consider substitution for overworked words and phrases with more specific terms such as those below:

• About -> Regarding
• Gave or Give -> Administer

Microchapter Guidelines

• Goal: The purpose of the microchapter system is to structure each chapter under specific nomenclature so as to allow search engines to efficiently browse and tag the content. It is critical that every page maintain sitewide consistency or the microchapter system loses its efficacy.
• All the microchapters should start with the same pagename. Examples include Pericarditis overview, Pericarditis pathophysiology, Pericarditis treatment etc.
• Only the first word of each chapter is capitalized.
• All the microchapters in the template on the right hand side should be present on the home page of the main chapter.
• All microchapters should contain the template on the right-hand side.
• The template is located here
• It is not necessary to have a microchapter for every title listed in the template. When necessary, please delete irrelevant chapter titles from the microchapter template. Often there are no primary or secondary prevention strategies. For example, there is no primary prevention strategy for pericarditis. This link is therefore missing from the template.

The Navigation Box at the top of the Page

• This navigation box appears only on the disease home page.
• If the picture at the top is illustrative, you can retain it, or you can find a copyleft image that better illustrates the condition.
• Remove the links to e medicine.

Synonyms and Keywords

Use google to search for synonyms and use the another word for it website. This text is bolded and italicized.

Related Chapters

• Do not use the phrase "see also". There tends to be confusion that the chapters you are linking to are the same or a similar topic.
• For this reason we use the terminology "Related chapters:"

Appropriate Copyleft Sources

• National Library of Medicine
• Diseases Database
• Centers for Disease Control
• Clinfowiki: The Clinical Research Informatics Wiki
• The Clinical Informatics Wiki
• Consumer Health Information (Toronto Public Library)
• Demystifying Depression

Overview

• Goal: To provide a brief description of the high points of the condition, focused primarily on the background of diagnosis and treatment of the condition.
  • This text will appear on all Google searches and must be perfected.
  • The grammar must be perfect.
• Appropriate content: There is an overview of the pathophysiology of the disease, the epidemiology and demographics, the common causes and prognosis of the disease. There is a summary of the diagnosis and treatment of the disease. (See Chronic stable angina overview.)

Historical Perspective

• Goal: To provide background on the history of how the disease/condition was discovered and has been studied over time.
• Appropriate content:
  • Notable scientists who studied the condition
  • Background on when the disease was first discovered
  • Notable outbreaks or condition-specific events in history
  • Landmark changes in approaches to studying the disease
• Remember: This is not the chapter for patient history or natural history.

Classification

• Goal: To provide information on any condition-specific classification schema that may exist.
• Appropriate content:
  • Subclassifications within the condition.
  • Ordinal levels of organizing the condition. (I.E. Severity of the disease)
• Remember: This is an optional microchapter and is not part of the initial microchapter template for this reason. Content must be substantial in itself to support creating an entire page on the classification scheme.

Pathophysiology

• Goal: Explain the biologic mechanism underlying the disease state.
• Appropriate content: A description of the embryological or developmental abnormalities, molecular abnormalities, genetic abnormalities, pathogenesis and pathology images
  • May include information on overall classifications of the disease.
  • I have searched for copyleft images of pathology specimens and videos on you tube.
  • I have searched The Pathology Wiki and Ask Dr. Wiki for images.

Causes

• Search the The Diseases Database to assure that the differential diagnosis is complete.

• Be sure to select the option may be caused by or feature of +.

• Goal: To provide a comprehensive list of all potential underlying causes of the condition as categorized by organ system.
• Appropriate content:
  • Common causes

• • Complete differential diagnosis table, listed by organ system
  • Differential diagnosis of causes of the disease, in alphabetical order
• Remember: This is not the chapter to describe what the disease causes. That is the chapter on natural history and complications.
  • This is also not the chapter where guidance is provided how to distinguish the disorder from other disorders. That is the chapter on differentiating (the condition) from other diseases.
  • DO NOT rename this section to be etiology.

The code for the table below should be copied from below or the following page Differential_diagnosis_by_organ_system_table:

Complete Differential Diagnosis of the Causes of ...

(By organ system)

Cardiovascular	No underlying causes
Chemical / poisoning	No underlying causes
Dermatologic	No underlying causes
Drug Side Effect	No underlying causes
Ear Nose Throat	No underlying causes
Endocrine	No underlying causes
Environmental	No underlying causes
Gastroenterologic	No underlying causes
Genetic	No underlying causes
Hematologic	No underlying causes
Iatrogenic	No underlying causes
Infectious Disease	No underlying causes
Musculoskeletal / Ortho	No underlying causes
Neurologic	No underlying causes
Nutritional / Metabolic	No underlying causes
Obstetric/Gynecologic	No underlying causes
Oncologic	No underlying causes
Opthalmologic	No underlying causes
Overdose / Toxicity	No underlying causes
Psychiatric	No underlying causes
Pulmonary	No underlying causes
Renal / Electrolyte	No underlying causes
Rheum / Immune / Allergy	No underlying causes
Sexual	No underlying causes
Trauma	No underlying causes
Urologic	No underlying causes
Miscellaneous	No underlying causes

Differentiating PAGENAME from other diseases

• Search the the diseases database to assure that the differential diagnosis is complete.
• Goal: To provide information on a systemic method to identify other potential diseases.
• Appropriate content:
  • Commonly associated conditions with similar signs and symptoms
  • Known conditions to exclude
  • Differentiating physical examination characteristics from similar diseases (a table like Pericarditis differential diagnosis may be useful)
  • Guidance on interpretation of physical examination findings
  • Guidance on interpretation of laboratory result findings
  • Information on potential shortcomings of various diagnostic protocols
• Remember: Please review the original versions of the chapter to assure that the differential diagnosis is complete and has not been erased.

Epidemiology and Demographics

• Goal: To provide facts and figures surrounding the determinants and distribution of disease.
• Appropriate content: A description of the characteristics of the population at-risk (gender, race, age, social economic status, dietary considerations, geographic location, environmental conditions) and any facts or figures surrounding the distribution of the disease burden in a population.
  • Common measures: crude and adjusted measurements of incidence, prevalence, mortality, morbidity, hazard ratios, relative risk, odds ratios, etc.
  • Figures showing stratified distribution of disease.
  • Information on exposure-outcome relationships indicating the disease as the outcome.
  • Information on potential bias surrounding the study of the disease.
• Remember: This is not the chapter to describe clinical trial results as it relates to the disease. This chapter is a background perspective on the overall distribution and determination of disease in the population.

Risk Factors

• Goal: To provide information on well-defined determinants of disease.
• Appropriate content: A description of stratified characteristics that are widely agreed to have a correlational relationship between exposure and disease outcome.
  • May include: lifestyle/behavioral habits, environmental exposures, genetic/inherited characteristics, etc.
• Remember: Risk factors are associated with a correlation and are not the causation to disease. Direct causation is covered in the cause section.

Screening

• Goal: To define a general overview of methodologies employed within a population to detect the disease before overt physiologic manifestation.
• Appropriate content: A description of tests used to indicate the likely presence or absence of a disease or condition in people not presenting symptoms.
  • Advantages and disadvantages
  • Sensitivity and specificity (false positives, false negatives) + positive predictive value and negative predictive value
  • Questions to consider: Why screen? What diseases are appropriate for screening? How do we assess whether a screening test is suitable? How do we assess whether a screening program works? What is the value of screening for those screened?
  • The role of bias (lead time bias, length time bias, selection bias, overdiagnosis, etc.)
• Remember: Screening is a pre-diagnostic mechanism. Information pertaining to the utilization of tests that provide quantitative physiological measurements to confirm and determine the progress of the disease or condition belongs in the respective diagnostic testing modality chapter. The testing modality chapters are intended to elaborate on disease progression characteristics.

Natural History, Complications and Prognosis

• Goal: To provide information on the natural progression of disease without treatment, complications that arise because of the disease and because of disease treatment, and the anticipated and actual outcomes for patients who receive care.
• Appropriate content:
  • Information regarding disease progression untreated
  • Life expectancy projections for untreated versus treated
  • Identifying known complications caused by or associated to the disease
  • Identifying known complications arising from treatment methodologies
  • Quantifying life expectancy for patients who receive care
  • Quantifying potentials for need for re-treatment
• Remember:' This is not the section for the patient history or historical record.

History and Symptoms

• Goal: The purpose of this chapter is to describe the typical symptoms that a patient verbalizes.
• Appropriate content:
  • A list of symptoms organized by frequency, such as...
    • Disorders with similar symptoms + a link to the differential diagnosis
    • Common symptoms
    • Less common symptoms
  • Rapidity of symptom onset
  • Including links to additional WikiDoc sites for further symptom explanation. (i.e. dyspnea)
• Remember: It does not include findings from the physical exam (signs of the disease).

Physical Examination

• Goal: To provide a comprehensive list of symptoms presenting during a physical examination by a medical professional.
• Appropriate content:
  • Appearance of the patient during examination
  • Vital signs
  • Compartmentalizing symptoms by: skin, eyes, ears, nose, throat, heart, lungs, abdomen, extremities, neurologic components
  • Differentiating characteristic denoting severity of disease presence
• There should be no information that could identify a patient on any image.
• A thorough search of youtube and google for videos related to the physical examination findings is required.
• A thorough search of google for copyleft images related to the physical examination findings is required.

Laboratory Findings

• Goal: To summarize all appropriate laboratory tests and applicable findings related to the condition.
• Appropriate content:
  • Electrolyte (K, Na)
  • Kidney function (Cr, Bun)
  • Liver function (LFTs, SGOT, SGPT)
  • Complete blood count (CBC)
  • White blood count (WBC, hct, Hb)
  • Biopsy
  • Other biological markers for the disease
• Remember: This section does not include imaging studies such as electrocardiogram, chest x ray, CT, MRI, echocardiography, ultrasound, etc.

Electrocardiogram

• Goal: To summarize all applicable electrocardiogram diagnostic tests and findings related to the condition.
• Appropriate content:
  • Indications and contraindications
  • Advantages and disadvantages
  • Common modalities
  • EKG findings
  • EKG imaging results
  • EKG copyleft image examples
  • Applicable EKG studies
• Remember: You cannot take copyright images and post them to WikiDoc. All images posted as examples must be from a copyleft source such as [National Library of Medicine], [RadsWiki], [Radiopedia]. If there is any doubt as to whether an image is copyleft, please consult with Dr. Gibson [[2]].
• There should be no information that could identify a patient on any image.

Chest X Ray

• Goal: To summarize all applicable chest x ray findings related to the condition.
• Appropriate content:
  • Indications and contraindications
  • Advantages and disadvantages
  • Characteristics of chest x rays with the condition
  • Chest x ray copyleft image examples
• Remember: You cannot take copyright images and post them to WikiDoc. All images posted as examples must be from a copyleft source such as [National Library of Medicine], [RadsWiki], [Radiopedia]. If there is any doubt as to whether an image is copyleft, please consult with Dr. Gibson [[3]].
• There should be no information that could identify a patient on any image.

CT

• Goal: To summarize all applicable CT tests and findings related to the condition.
• Appropriate content:
  • Indications and contraindications
  • Advantages and disadvantages
  • Applicable modalities/forms of CT testing
  • CT imaging results
  • CT copyleft image examples
  • CT copyleft video examples
  • Applicable CT studies
• Remember: You cannot take copyright images and post them to WikiDoc. All images posted as examples must be from a copyleft source such as [National Library of Medicine], [RadsWiki], [Radiopedia]. If there is any doubt as to whether an image is copyleft, please consult with Dr. Gibson [[4]].
• There should be no information that could identify a patient on any image.

Echocardiography or ultrasound

• Goal: To summarize all applicable echocardiography or ultrasound tests and findings related to the condition.
• Appropriate content:
  • Indications and contraindications
  • Advantages and disadvantages
  • Applicable modalities/forms of echocardiography or ultrasound testing
  • Echocardiography or ultrasound imaging results
  • Echocardiography or ultrasound copyleft image examples
  • Echocardiography or ultrasound copyleft video examples
  • Applicable echocardiography or ultrasound studies
• Remember: You cannot take copyright images and post them to WikiDoc. All images posted as examples must be from a copyleft source such as National Library of Medicine, Wikipedia, RadsWiki, Radiopedia or Wiki Echo. even though the image is copyleft, you should cite the site that was the original source. If there is any doubt as to whether an image is copyleft, please consult with Dr. Gibson [5].
• There should be no information that could identify a patient on any image.

Other Imaging Findings

• Goal: To provide a space for additional imaging results that pertain to the disease.
• Appropriate content:
  • Coronary angiography/cardiac catheterization
  • Additional scans (i.e. Gallium scanning)
  • Applicable coplyleft images and videos
• Remember: You cannot take copyright images and post them to WikiDoc. All images posted as examples must be from a copyleft source such as National Library of Medicine, Wikipedia, RadsWiki, Radiopedia or Wiki Echo. even though the image is copyleft, you should cite the site that was the original source. If there is any doubt as to whether an image is copyleft, please consult with Dr. Gibson [6].

Treatment

• Goal: When applicable, a treatment overview page serves to address things like precipitating factors, risk factor modification, treatment essentials, and a brief overview of methodologies (such as pharmacological and surgical).
  • All treatments should be placed on microchapters relating to the type of intervention (i.e. medical therapy vs. surgical therapy vs. primary prevention).
• Appropriate content:
  • As treatment is not universal from condition to condition, each disease may have different microchapters for treatment. Common microchapters include:

• Medical therapy
• Pharmacological therapy (may even be further microchaptered into type of pharmacological therapy such as antiplatelet, anti-lipid, etc.)
• Treatment/management of supporting conditions
• Including guidelines for treatment:

• National Guideline Clearinghouse
• Cardiology resources:

• ACC/AHA Guidelines
• European Society of Cardiologists Guidelines
• Canadian Cardiovascular Society Guidelines

• Try searching Google Scholar for treatment guidelines, i.e. Searching Google Scholar for treatment of a condition like Crohn's Disease

Categories

• Goal: The goal of including categories at the bottom of your WikiDoc article is to allow for the textbook to compile a comprehensive table of contents. Every category that is coded will create a new directory for WikiDoc readers to utilize to find content. For example, Category:Cardiology
• Appropriate content:

• The spelling of each category is case sensitive. All links must follow the convention: capitalize the first letter of the first word and every subsequent word will be lowercase (i.e. Mature chapter). If you spell Mature chapter as Mature Chapter, WikiDoc will not send it to the same place. One wrong capital will send the link elsewhere. It is crucial that the sitewide convention be applied appropriately or you will be creating dead links and the potential for unnecessarily duplicated content. Categories you may include at the bottom include:
• Category:Mature chapter- All chapters must have an overview section. Once they do, and if the chapter is complete, it can be categorized as a mature chapter. This tag signifies that the chpater has been extensively vetted based upon the process above and is of high quality chapter.
• Category:Microchapter candidate - If a chapter has progressed in size and sophistication to the point that it should be divided into subchapters, please include it in the category microchapter candidate. Once it is divided into microchapters, this designation should be removed.
• Category:Patient information- If you are creating a patient information page, put it in the patient information category. Note that the i in information is a small i.
• Category:Disease- If the chapter you are working on is a disease, make sure you include it in the disease state category.
• Category:Physical examination - This category is used for those chapters that focus on the physical examination

• Category:Signs and symptoms - This category is used for those chapters that focus on the signs and symptoms. An example would include the chapter on headache.

• Category:Subspecialty - Examples include cardiology, emergency medicine, intensive care medicine, oncology.