EMGuidance Editorial Policy & Process

Internally developed, independent and unsponsored

EMGuidance’s  internally developed, independent and unsponsored content is developed by our in-house team of pharmacists, pharmacist’s assistants, doctors and specialists. All members of this team are required to disclose any conflicts of interest, which enables us to evaluate and avoid any conflicts which may arise in the development of our content. The internally developed, independent and unsponsored content is developed without any external third party influence. 

Content which fall into this category includes:

• Active ingredient monographs

• Unsponsored medical calculators

• Unsponsored learn and CPD content 

• Unsponsored patient education 

• Unsponsored news articles 

Internally developed and sponsored 

EMGuidance’s  internally developed and sponsored content is developed by our in-house team of pharmacists, pharmacist’s assistants, doctors, specialists and affiliated partners. All members of this team are required to disclose any conflicts of interest, which enables us to evaluate and avoid any conflicts which may arise in the development of our content. If content is developed using funding from a commercial interest, the financial relationship is disclosed prior to the start of the activity. Sponsored content is clearly marked as 'Content supplied by manufacturer'.

Content which may fall into this category includes: 

• Sponsored medical calculators

• Motivation assistance tools

• Learn content such as CPDs 

• Patient education 

• News articles 

Externally developed and unsponsored  

EMGuidance’s externally developed and unsponsored content is provided by institutional partners such as the National Department of Health, universities, hospitals and professional societies. This content is supplied free of charge to EMGuidance. EMGuidance does not also charge the content supplier a fee to host the content.  

Content which may fall into this category includes:

• Clinical guidelines

• Unsponsored news articles

• Call rosters

Externally developed, non-independent and  unsponsored

EMGuidance’s externally developed and unsponsored content is provided by 3rd party companies with whom we have a licensing agreement. 

Content which may fall into this category includes:

• Medical calculators

• Patient education

Externally developed, non-independent and  sponsored

Sponsored information on the EMGuidance platform which are provided by third parties are subject to the following criteria:

The information is subject to the conditions of the Marketing Code Authority (MCA) which relates to the advertising of pharmaceutical products to consumers and medical professionals in South Africa.

• The information is required to be objective, scientifically verifiable and up to date.

• Supporting documents for information presented in sponsored content are to be made available, by the participating party, upon request from any user or external party.

Content which may fall into this category includes:

• Product listings

• Sponsored news 

• Sponsored learn and CPD content

Sponsored content is clearly marked as 'Content supplied by manufacturer' or ‘Sponsored by manufacturer’

Medicines

Active ingredient monographs

The active ingredient monographs are proprietary content independently developed by our clinical content team. The clinical content  team continually researches and reviews information from a number of local and international medicine databases, manufacturer information, clinical guidelines, primary studies, regulatory authorities and other clinical sources and then condenses the information into concise and clinically relevant active ingredient monographs.  We believe this process produces the best available prescribing and drug reference information, that goes far beyond package inserts, with the inclusion of special population dosing, poison information, comprehensive listings of all trade names, preparations and costing information. Each data point within the active ingredient monographs is referenced. These references are available on request. We encourage engagement and feedback. Please send all queries and comments to clinical@emguidance.com 

Product listing monographs

Product listing monographs are monographs which contain information provided by pharmaceutical manufacturers. These are clearly marked as 'Content supplied by manufacturer'. These monographs contain supplementary, value-adding content provided by the relevant pharmaceutical manufacturer. 

Medical Calculators

The medical calculators area on the EMGuidance platform provides users with a comprehensive collection of smart dosage calculators, conversion tools, scoring systems, risk assessments, diagnostic criteria and clinical calculators. Majority of the medical calculators on EMGuidance are provided by a trusted, global third party company through a licensing agreement. All calculators are based on the best available evidence and derived directly from literature. A handful of calculators have been developed in-house by the EMGuidance team

Smart dosage calculator

The smart dosage calculator provides a simple user interface to make complex dosing and calculations easy. This provides prescribers with the most accurate, effective and safe dose to use. 

An unsponsored smart dosage tool is based on the best available dosing information from local & /or international manufacturer information and may be based on weight or age bands. You will find unsponsored smart-dosing calculators in certain active ingredient monographs. 

A sponsored smart dosage tool is based on the manufacturer information. You will find sponsored smart dosing calculators in certain product listings.

Motivation assistance tool 

The motivation assistance tool provides assistance to healthcare professionals to motivate for reimbursement of a  medicine which requires a set of clinical criteria to be met prior to funding consideration.  The goal of the motivation assistance tool  is to decrease the barrier to funding and help healthcare professionals submit the correct information to medical schemes.  The motivation tool is product specific and is sponsored by pharmaceutical companies. You will find the motivation assistance tool in certain sponsored product listings.

Guidelines 

Guidelines are provided by institutional partners. The guidelines are reformatted and redesigned by the EMGuidance team to optimise the digital user experience. A summary is available for each guideline, providing more information on authorship and source of each guideline. At the bottom of each guideline, the version description is provided where applicable.

Learn

The learn area provides health care professionals access to free accredited CPDs and learn content to keep up to date with the latest medicines and clinical information. 

Both sponsored and non-sponsored learning content is available on the EMGuidance platform. 

Unsponsored learn content is independently developed by our in-house team of specialists, pharmacists, doctors and affiliated partners. The clinical team reviews information from a number of clinical guidelines, research articles and other sources of clinical evidence in order to compile the learn content. Learn content may include case studies and HPCSA accredited CPD activities. 

Learn content such as CPDs and webinars may also be provided through sponsored partnerships. This learn content is clearly marked with the statement “Brought to you by:”

News

The EMGuidance news feed contains both unsponsored as well as sponsored news. 

The unsponsored news articles published on the platform are identified by the EMGuidance clinical content team . News articles selected for inclusion are chosen on editorial merit and relevance to healthcare professionals. All sources are acknowledged and, where possible, links are provided to the full, original article.  No endorsement of republished material is implied when an article is included into the newsfeed.

Sponsored news articles may be provided by pharmaceutical companies. This may include articles on  new medicine launches, new clinical indication registrations,  any relevant clinical trials or any other clinical information or updates. Sponsored news articles are clearly marked with the statement “Sponsored by:” 

Patient Education 

The EMGuidance patient education content is independently developed by our in-house team of specialists, pharmacists, doctors and affiliated partners. The patient information is written in clear, easy-to-understand language for the general public and patients. The patient information can be shared with the patient either through a sms or email link or can be printed. The health care professional details who are sharing the content will remain private . 

Sponsored patient education is clearly marked with the statement “Sponsored by:”, however the content remains independently developed by EMGuidance. 

Care Coordination

Care coordination information, such as call rosters are supplied by relevant hospitals, clinics and service providers and made available on the platform at no cost. This content is externally developed and EMGuidance has no influence on the information or list provided. 

Interaction Checker 

The interaction checker is independently developed and supplied by a third party.

Licenses / Acknowledgements

The South African National Department of Health (http://www.health.gov.za)

Electronic Medicines Compendium (including Summary of Product Characteristics), under licence from Datapharm Communications Limited (http://www.datapharm.org.uk)

National Department of Health Medicine Price Registry (http://www.mpr.gov.za)

The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) (https://www.sahpra.org.za/)

Code4SA (http://code4SA.org)

A-Z of Medicines (https://www.azmeds.info)

AfriTox (https://www.afritox.co.za)

EBMcalc (https://ebmcalc.com) 

Updated 21 November 2022

* All features may not be available in all regions