FPnotebook.com stands as a comprehensive and rapidly accessible point-of-care medical reference meticulously designed for primary care and emergency clinicians. This dynamic online resource offers a wealth of medical information to support healthcare professionals in their daily practice.
Content Overview of Family Practice Notebook
Since its inception in 1995, Family Practice Notebook has evolved into an extensive collection, currently boasting over 6400 interlinked topic pages as of August 2016. The content is thoughtfully organized into a hierarchical tree structure, encompassing 31 specialty books and 722 chapters, ensuring ease of navigation and targeted information retrieval. To maintain its currency and clinical relevance, the Family Practice Notebook undergoes monthly updates, incorporating insights from peer-reviewed articles, bulletins, key medical texts, and learnings from conferences and workshops. A detailed log of these monthly updates is readily available for users to track the latest additions and revisions.
The resource emphasizes evidence-based practice by referencing new approaches to medical problems with supporting studies. Furthermore, to broaden understanding and encourage deeper learning, suggestions for further reading on general medical issues are frequently included. While formal peer review is not yet established, the site author actively encourages user feedback to ensure accuracy and address any misinformation, fostering a collaborative environment for continuous improvement.
Funding and Advertising Policies
Family Practice Notebook is a self-funded initiative by its author, Dr. Scott Moses, MD. To sustain the website and ensure its continued availability, advertising support is utilized. Transparency is paramount, and all paid advertisements are clearly identified as such. The specific privacy policy pertaining to advertising on Fpnotebook.com is accessible for review, ensuring users are informed about data practices.
User experience and content integrity are highly valued. The site author explicitly invites users to report any advertising they deem distasteful, inappropriate, or that might compromise the site’s value or integrity. It is unequivocally stated that advertisers have absolutely no influence over the content, which remains solely under the discretion of the site author, reinforcing the commitment to unbiased and reliable medical information.
Disclaimer and Responsible Use
While diligent efforts are made to minimize errors, misinformation, and copyright infringements, the Family Practice Notebook operates under a necessary disclaimer. Users are reminded that the information provided is not infallible and should not replace sound clinical judgment. The site author strongly advises clinicians to exercise their own professional discretion when implementing any management strategies encountered on the platform. User feedback is welcomed and crucial for identifying and rectifying any inaccuracies or issues within the content. It is imperative for all users to review and agree to the Terms and Conditions before utilizing this resource, ensuring responsible and informed application of the information provided.
Website Generation and Technical Evolution
The genesis of these medical notes traces back to scattered text pearls initially stored using the Notetaker application on an HP Palmtop 200LX in 1995. Over time, notes from diverse sources such as conferences, articles, textbooks, and professional colleagues were systematically accumulated, leading to the comprehensive resource it is today.
As the volume of information expanded, so did the complexity of its organization. This necessitated the development of “Brains,” a specialized program designed for both personal notetaking and website compilation. Brains is capable of importing raw text from a database, intelligently processing the Book-Chapter-Page hierarchy, topic outlines, titles, synonyms, images, and links, streamlining the website generation process.
Currently in its third iteration, Brains is engineered in C# with a SQL Server database, enabling efficient output of each site version in HTML within 1-2 hours. This latest version incorporates the capability to link topics to UMLS metathesaurus codes and ensure optimal viewing on handheld devices, reflecting a commitment to accessibility across platforms.
A significant update in late 2013 introduced a responsive design, leveraging a custom theme built on the Bootstrap framework, enhancing user experience across various screen sizes. Furthermore, in August 2016, efforts commenced to implement SSL (https) on the main site, prioritizing user security and data protection.
Beyond the core reference content, the site author has developed various medical web applications and occasionally shares insights and experiences in medical informatics through a dedicated blog.
Medical Image Usage and Policy
Most of the medical images featured on Family Practice Notebook are original creations by the site author. Many anatomy illustrations are derived from 3D models provided by Zygote, while others are crafted using a combination of Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, and Poser software, demonstrating a commitment to visually rich and informative content.
Users are granted permission to freely use these images for non-commercial purposes such as printing for classroom posters or incorporating them into presentations like PowerPoints, provided they are not resold or modified. Proper attribution is requested, specifically crediting fpnotebook.com as the source in presentations and retaining the fpnotebook.com logo on posters. While not mandatory, the author encourages users to communicate how they are utilizing the images and suggest any desired new images or modifications, fostering a user-centric approach to image development.
For webmasters seeking to use these images on their websites, explicit approval must be obtained. Permission is typically granted for reputable sites that offer original content and align with educational purposes. Conversely, image use will be denied to sites lacking original content, promoting unsubstantiated remedies, or intending to use images for purposes that are not in line with ethical educational practices. A mandatory requirement for approved web usage is the inclusion of a link to fpnotebook.com in close proximity to each image, ensuring proper source recognition and facilitating access to the original resource.
When images are sourced from external resources, they are clearly attributed. These sources include notable projects like the NIH Virtual Human project and MedPix, acknowledging and respecting intellectual property rights.
Images from Gray’s Anatomy 20th edition (1918, Lewis), now in the public domain due to patent expiration, are also utilized. Scanned images of these plates are openly accessible through online platforms such as bartleby.com and Yahoo, expanding the range of visual resources available on the site.
About the Author: Dr. Scott Moses, MD
The driving force behind the Family Practice Notebook is Scott Moses, MD, a board-certified Family Physician practicing in the Minneapolis-St Paul, Minnesota area. His dedication to providing accessible and reliable medical information for clinicians is evident in the continuous development and maintenance of this valuable online resource.
