General guidelines on creating chapters and microchapters

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

The following is a guide to creating your chapters and microchapters. Please see the following chapters which are excellent examples of how create and structure chapters and microchapters.

• Pericarditis

Microchapter Guidelines

• 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.
• 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.

Patient information page

• Search the National Library of Medicine and other government sites to assure the patient page is complete.
• Goal: A consumer-oriented page generally addressing background, diagnosis, and treatment of this condition.
  • The page is written at an 8th grade level of comprehension.
  • Language is not overly technical.
• Appropriate content:
  • What is (the condition)?
  • What are the symptoms of (the condition)?
  • What causes (the conditon)?
  • Who is at the highest risk?
  • When to seek urgent medical care
  • Treatment options
  • Where to find medical care for (the condition)
  • What to expect (Outlook/Prognosis)
  • Possible complications
  • Sources
• Remember: Include a link to the WikiDoc page at the top of the page.

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.
  • I understand this text will appear on all Google searches and must be perfected.
  • I understand that the grammar must be perfect.
• Appropriate content: background, etiology, general summary of diagnosis and treatment
  • I have, where necessary, provided links to additional more detailed microchapters.

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
  • 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.

Complete Differential Diagnosis of the Causes of PAGENAME

• Search the the diseases database to assure that the differential diagnosis is complete.
• Goal: To provide a comprehensive list of all potential underlying causes of the condition as categorized by organ system.
• Appropriate content:
  • Complete differential diagnosis table, listed by organ system
• 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.

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.