DynaMed continues to provide the most relevant, useful information for use at the
point of care. This is due in large part to its editorial team and policies as
well as the many active content contributors. As such, DynaMed continues to seek
contributors, and we encourage clinicians to take part in the ongoing development
of DynaMed as authors and reviewers.
What is the role of a DynaMed author?
A DynaMed author either creates a new topic or revises an existing topic. For
new topics, an author would use a standard template to create the entry for a
disease, condition or drug that did not previously exist in the database. The
author would select evidence, organize the information and summarize the
findings. For pre-existing topics, an author’s objective is to revise and
improve the topic through re-examination. This includes reviewing the existing
topic and current evidence, and validating this material to ensure that it is
clinically sound and easy to locate. The end result is the most accurate,
current and valuable information on a given topic.
An author must:
- Identify evidence (conduct a search for the best available evidence) and/or
evaluate evidence (perform a critical appraisal sufficient to assign level
of evidence labels where applicable) for a substantial portion of a topic summary.
- Draft a topic summary or critically revise it for important intellectual content.
- Participate sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for the content
in the topic summary.
What is the role of a DynaMed reviewer?
A DynaMed reviewer helps to ensure that a new or revised topic meets the needs of practicing clinicians. A reviewer provides recommendations for improving the usefulness of the summary,
especially with respect to relevance, completeness and ease of use. Validity assessment and selection of the best available evidence is welcome, but reviewers can also rely on DynaMed authors and editors for specific evidence evaluation.
Authors and reviewers are not blinded. After the initial
review, authors and reviewers are included collectively in e-mail notices
regarding updates and encouraged to collaborate in continually improving the summary.
Authors and reviewers are required to disclose competing interests (financial or otherwise).