WikiHealthCare Policies

The Policies governing use of the WikiHealthCare site can be summed up in these four concepts:

The WikiHealthCare site is built upon free content that anyone may edit

With the exception of the WikiHealthCare pages that specifically contain a Joint Commission Copyright statement in the page footer, all text posted to the WikiHealthCare site is available under the GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL). It may be freely distributed or linked accordingly. Recognize that articles can be changed by anyone and no individual controls any specific article; therefore, any writing you contribute can be edited and redistributed by other users. Users should not submit material that is incompatible with the GFDL. If incompatible material is identified, it should be reported and removed immediately.

WikiHealthCare has a code of conduct

Respect your fellow WikiHealthCare participants even when you may not agree with them. Be civil. Avoid making personal attacks or sweeping generalizations. Use the discussion pages to negotiate with fellow editors, before editing becomes disruptive to page content. Act in good faith -- with the understanding that the site is intended to facilitate collaboration and communication among health care professionals and other stakeholders -- and assume good faith on the part of others. Be open and welcoming, especially to new users.

WikiHealthCare is a community of health care stakeholders

WikiHealthCare was established by The Joint Commission in order to improve health care quality by using the most powerful resource in medical history -- namely the entire community of health care providers, researchers, technicians, administrators and other professionals dedicated to providing effective and efficient patient care. Be bold in your editing and modifying of articles. Perfection is not required. Be professional, but do not worry about making mistakes. All prior versions of the articles are kept, so there is no way that you can accidentally damage WikiHealthCare or irretrievably destroy content. But remember -- whatever you write here will be preserved for posterity.

WikiHealthCare is intended to disseminate credible health care information

WikiHealthCare serves as a forum for information dissemination. It is therefore critical that authors cite verifiable, authoritative sources whenever possible, especially on controversial topics. Users must be able to evaluate the credibility of all information posted to this site. When a conflict arises, participants should use the discussion pages to resolve disputes and negotiate editing solutions. When an impass is reached, follow WikiHealthCare's dispute resolution procedures.

Individual policies

Conduct

Civility

Being rude, insensitive or petty makes people upset and stops WikiHealthCare from working well. Try to discourage others from being uncivil, and be careful to avoid offending people unintentionally. Dispute resolution procedures are available, if needed. (See dispute resolution)

Editing policy

Contribute, contribute, contribute. Leave comments, create new pages and improve existing pages wherever you can. Don't worry about leaving pages imperfect. Avoid deleting work posted by others wherever possible (i.e., edit to improve, not to remove another users contribution).

No legal threats

Use dispute resolution rather than legal threats, for everyone's sake. The Joint Commission will respond quickly to complaints of defamation or copyright infringement, once we have been notified of the problem.

No personal attacks

Do not make personal attacks anywhere in WikiHealthCare. Comment on content, not on the contributor. Personal attacks damage the community and deter users.

Ownership of articles

By participating on the site, you agreed to allow others to modify your work. So let them. If you disagree with a posted comment, leave a comment of your own. Take editorial disputes to the talk page rather than engaging in back-and-forth editing of an article.

Accurately represent yourself

Individual users should maintain only one WikiHealthCare account. Do not use multiple accounts to create the illusion of greater support for an issue or to mislead others. Do not ask friends or colleagues to create accounts soley for the purpose of supporting your position. You are accountable for your contibutions. Anonymous participation is not supported, as it prevents other users from evaluating the credibility of comments posted.

Username

The default setting for usernames is your first and last name combined as a single WikiWord. Please adhere to this format, unless you are required to modify it (i.e., another registered user has the same name). In such cases, you should add a unique identifier, but maintain your real name as part of your username. Regardless of the user name you choose, WikiHealthCare participants will be able to identify users by clicking on usernames that appear on the site.

Vandalism

Vandalism is any addition, deletion, or change to content made in a deliberate attempt to compromise the integrity or credibility of the site. It is, and needs to be, removed from the WikiHealthCare, and reported to an administrator. An accidental deletion of change is not considered vandalism. Typically, such accidents are the work of new users who are getting familiar with the site. Whenever possible, take the time to explain mistakes to new users and encourage them to try again.

What WikiHealthCare is not

WikiHealthCare was developed by The Joint Commission to encourage networking and collaboration within the health care community. The information, views and opinions on the site are NOT implicitly or explicitly endorsed by The Joint Commission and do NOT represent an official position of The Joint Commission. The Joint Commission has provided WikiHealthCare as a platform for professional collaboration, NOT as a forum for debate or an outlet for unsupported opinions. Please use the site accordingly. (See Disclaimer )

Content and Style

Naming conventions

Generally, topic naming should give priority to what the majority of English speakers worldwide would most easily recognize, while at the same time making linking to those topics (or related articles) easy and second nature. Topic names should follow the WikiWord format.

Verifiability

The Joint Commission cannot check the accuracy of all material posted to the site (See Disclaimer). Authors should, therefore, cite sources whenever possible, and users are encouraged to check posted material to determine whether an author's citations have been published by a reputable publication (or at least have been appropriately labeled as original research). Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Users may also notify The Joint Commission, if they have reason to beleive that posted material is inappropriately referenced or deliberately misleading.

Deletion

Deletion policy

Most topics or articles can only be deleted through a site administrator. If you beleive that a topic should be deleted, please contact a site administrator to nominate a page for deletion. (See Nominate Page for Deletion)

Office actions

The Joint Commission reserves the right to delete any article.

Enforcing policies

Arbitration policy

It is assumed that topic and article authors will discuss topics in good faith and be open to presenting multiple points of view within an article. Generally, discussions of this nature should take place on the article discussion pages. When discussions about an article have reached an impasse, an author may flag the issue for arbitration. dispute resolution

Banning policy

Extremely disruptive users may be banned from WikiHealthCare. Please respect these bans, don't bait banned users and don't help them out.

Blocking policy

Disruptive users can be blocked from editing specific topics (or prevented from editing anything on the site). Editing privleges can be restored at the discretion of the site administrator.

Resolving disputes

The first step to resolving any dispute is to talk to those who disagree with you (i.e., use the discussion pages). If that fails, there are more structured forms of discussion available. (See dispute resolution)

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Note: These policies were orginally adpapted from those used in Wikipedia. They may change as the WikiHealthCare site begins to form its own identity and community norms.