User Guidelines

These guidelines are also available to download in pdf format.

Your quick guide to using MedEdCentral

  1. To search the database you can use the alphabetical index, free text search, or advanced search by clicking on the Search button in the menu bar on the left.

  2. To have a brief overview of MedEdCentral, click on the ‘About’ button on the menu bar.

  3. To make changes to your ‘login’, click on the ‘My Account’ button on the menu bar

  4. To contribute to MedEdCentral you must first register and then login, via the appropriate buttons on the menu bar.

  5. To add a new entry, once logged in, click on the ‘Suggest new Entry Button’ on the menu bar and follow the steps in the ‘New entry Wizard’.

  6. To contribute to an existing entry, once logged in, click on ‘Add another....’ or ‘comment’ in the relevant fields.

  7. To see a list of the 100 latest new entries, or additions to existing entries, click on the ‘Latest Additions’ button in the menu bar.

  8. To see who the editors of MedEdCentral are, click on the Editors button

  9. To report abuse of the MedEdCentral site, click on the ‘Report Abuse’ button

  10. To submit suggestions about the usefulness and functionality of the site, click on the ‘Contact’ button.

A more in-depth guide can be found in the following pages.

User Guidelines

The MedEdCentral database can be accessed by anyone. Users can activate any of the Menu buttons without first registering and logging in. If you wish to contribute to the database, either by suggesting a new entry or adding a comment to an existing entry, you must first register. The MedEdCentral team encourages you to register and participate in the on-going development of this international database in medical education.

1. How to use the MedEdCentral database

Finding an entry

You can conduct an alphabetical search, free text search, or advanced search to find an entry. Click on the Search button on the Menu bar to select the type of search that best meets your need. Click on the word ‘Back’ at the top of the entry to return to the Search screen.

(a) Using alphabetical index

Selecting one of the letters of the alphabet, eg B, will provide a list of all entries in the MedEdCentral database for that letter. The search can be narrowed down, by selecting a combination of the first and second letter. Only the combinations in blue bold type contain entries.

(b) Using free text search

It is possible to make free text search of the content, title and fields. Free text search allows you to identify where the word or string appears in any field of an entry in the database.

(c) Using advanced search

More advanced searches can be carried out specifying the type of entry i.e. category, topic, phase of education or geographical area from the lists provided.

Navigating an entry

Within an entry, the fields may be navigated using the tabs. These are greyed out when the field is empty.

The contributor of the entry, or another user, may add information to any of the fields at a later date. A green tick on a tab indicates new information has been added to an existing entry.

navigating an entry

When viewing an entry from the ‘Latest Additions’ list, clicking on the word ‘Back’ will return you to the latest additions list when you have completed viewing an entry.

Below is an explanation of the function of each of the fields.

Description: the first listed entry is the accepted MedEdCentral description or definition as approved by the Editorial Board. This is followed by alternative suggestions where these have been proposed. The accepted description may be updated from time to time as appropriate.

See also: cross-references to other entries in MedEdCentral relevant to the topic of the entry.

Links: links to other websites relevant to the topic of the entry.

Reports/papers: published reports/papers relating to the subject of the entry.

Individuals: key workers with expertise in the topic/field of the entry.

Associations: organisations with a special interest/responsibility in the topic area.

Further Info: links to further information relating to the topic.

2 How to contribute to MedEdCentral

There are three ways you can contribute to MedEdCentral:

(a) suggest a new entry

(b) contribute to an existing entry, and

(c) send feedback about the usefulness and functionality of MedEdCentral.

Note: You must log in to contribute to MedEdCentral (select Login, or Register if not previously registered, from left hand menu).

By contributing to MedEdCentral you are agreeing to be bound by the terms and conditions of use.

All contributions should be in English. A future development may include the option to post in other languages.

(a) Suggest a new entry

You can suggest a new entry for inclusion in the database, for review by the Editorial Board, by clicking on the appropriate option button in the left hand Menu bar. The New Entry Wizard will guide you through the information required for the different fields – 8 fields, as shown and explained above (‘navigating an entry’). Not all the available information fields may be relevant to your suggested entry, and you will be given the option to ‘Finish’ once you have advanced to step 3. Additional information can be added by the contributor at a later date.

If accepted, the entry will be attributed to you together with the date of entry. You will receive an emailed acknowledgement of your suggestion.

You are responsible for your entries and these will be attributed to you by name, city, country and date of entry

(b) Contribute to an existing entry

You can contribute directly to an existing entry in two ways: to any of the entry’s fields or by adding a comment on the information within a field.

To add to a field or to comment on the content of the entry, select the appropriate field and add your contribution. If you wish to add documents in the 'Reports/Papers' or ‘Case Studies/Further Info’' fields, only pdf documents may be uploaded.

You will receive an emailed acknowledgement of your contribution.

You are responsible for your entries and these will be attributed to you by name, city, country and date of entry.

3 How to cite material in MedEdCentral

Information in MedEdCentral should be cited as follows:

Contributor or MedEdCentral, Title of entry, Date entry contributed, www.mededcentral.org, Date entry accessed

4 Terms and conditions of use

Disclaimer

This free website is operated by MedEdCentral. MedEdCentral is a collaborative writing initiative which may be contributed to by individuals or groups working together to develop a common source of information in medical and healthcare professions education. MedEdCentral is dependent upon the community it serves to contribute relevant material and to improve the general quality of entries by commenting on perceived inaccuracies.

MedEdCentral makes no guarantee as to the validity, reliability or accuracy of the information contained. In each entry the first description is the only part of the entry that has been reviewed by the Editorial Board. From time to time the first description may be revised or replaced if a more appropriate description becomes available, as judged by the Editorial Board. Information included in MedEdCentral does not imply warranty or fitness for any purpose whatsoever.

This website contains links to other sites. We are not responsible for the content of any third party website.

5 Report abuse

In using MedEdCentral you undertake to report to the MedEdCentral administrator any entry you find that may be perceived as abuse, from the ‘Report Abuse’ link in the left hand menu.

6 Terms and conditions for contributors

In addition to the above, by contributing to MedEdCentral you are agreeing to the following conditions:

  1. You will only enter material that is relevant to the areas of medical and healthcare professions education in their broadest sense;

  2. You will not make entries that may be deemed offensive or libellous;

  3. You guarantee that to the best of your knowledge the information you enter is accurate;

  4. You are the originator of the material or you have permission of the owner of any copyrighted material to enter it into MedEdCentral.

  5. You will not attempt to transmit to or via our website any information that contains a virus, worm, trojan, or other harmful or disruptive component

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