Information about Which Medical Device
What is Which Medical Device?
Which Medical Device is a review and information site about medical devices developed by clinicians for clinicians. It was launched with the aim of sharing information about medical devices to help us make better decisions and use devices well. We believe clinicians want to know what devices are really like from colleagues and the evidence.
In this short video Dr Phil Haslam and Craig Gerrand discuss their motivation for established WhichMedicalDevice.com and their goals for the website
Background
Which Medical Device is based on the highly successful ‘Which Interventional Device’ website for interventional radiologists, launched in 2007 by Phil Haslam. The site was well received and had over 1700 members in 2010: feedback from the community was almost universally positive. It was clear that other areas of clinical practice would also benefit and so Which Medical Device was launched in 2010 and has now in excess of 7,200 clinician members. The site receives over 17,000 visits per month.
Who are our editors?
Our editors are clinicians with an interest in medical devices, chosen from specialties featured on Which Medical Device. You can see who they are here. If you are interested in joining our editorial team, let us know.
How are devices chosen for Which Medical Device?
Devices on Which Medical Device are suggested by users, manufacturers, and our editorial team. Get in touch if you would like us to add a device.
Why do I need to register?
We ask that you register so that we know your contribution is genuine, but only your user name (non-identifiable if you prefer) is displayed next to comments. There is no charge for registration for clinicians, health care and medical industry professionals. In return we offer full access to reviews, images and videos and our optional newsletter. We will take care of your data and will not pass it on without your permission. Our privacy policy is here.
How can I contribute?
We welcome contributions from the medical device community, including clinicians, device developers, manufacturers and distributors. We greatly value your comments about devices - for example why you use a device and how you get the most out of it. Comments are easy to add but we ask that you register so we know you are genuine.
We also welcome in-depth user reviews, videos, news stories and editorial for peer review. Read the instructions to authors if you would like to contribute or contact us for more information. Of course we also welcome feedback about anything on the site.
How reliable is the information on Which Medical Device?
We do our best to make sure information on Which Medical Device is up to date and regularly review content, but see our disclaimer. Please let us know if you see something incorrect or out of date.
How is Which Medical Device funded?
To pay the bills, we charge manufacturers and distributors for adding supporting promotional materials. Manufacturers benefit by presenting product literature, images and videos to interested clinicians and as members, can respond to comments made by users. We believe that open dialogue and collaboration between manufacturers and clinicians is in everyone’s best interests. We also provide manufacturers with aggregated statistics about their device pages, which include items such as the number of users that have looked at their devices. These data do not include user-identifiable information, which we would not pass to anyone without consent. Devices are chosen for listing independent of whether the manufacturer sponsors a product. For more information about how Which Medical Device can support industry partners look here.
How independent are we?
We want the information on Which Medical Device to be as useful as possible. It should always be clear whether you are looking at marketing material or independent opinion. We therefore ask that reviewers declare conflicts of interest when submitting reviews, but we appreciate that the relationships that clinicians have with companies and medical devices are many and varied. If you are aware of an undeclared conflict of interest in a review or comment please let us know. We have zero tolerance for biased or fake reviews.
Our relationship with manufacturers is similar to that of a medical journal. We believe that placing sponsored content adjacent to independent reviews is a legitimate source of income, and that users will be able to tell what content has been paid for by the manufacturer. The posting of product information by manufacturers does not depend on favourable reviews. We expect manufacturers to comply with the ethical standards given in Eucomed guidance (www.eucomed.org).
For further information about these or other aspects of Which Medical Device, please contact us.
This website is operated by Which Interventional Device Limited, a company incorporated in England and Wales under company number 06398398 with its registered office at 55 jesmond Park West, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne & Wear, NE7 7BX.
