Medical Review Policy
Openlywell requires medical review when content could reasonably influence a health decision, including pages about symptoms, testing, diagnosis, treatment, contraception, medicines, pregnancy, STIs, HIV prevention and sexual dysfunction. Review should be performed by an appropriately qualified professional whose expertise fits the topic.
Medical review is not a decorative badge. The reviewer should verify clinical claims, red flags, contraindication wording, treatment descriptions and whether the advice matches current guidance for the intended market. The editor remains responsible for readability and structure, while the reviewer is responsible for clinical accuracy within their scope.
Reviewer credentials must be verified before they are displayed or included in structured data. Openlywell should not imply that someone is a physician, nurse, pharmacist, therapist or other regulated professional without evidence of the relevant qualification and registration where applicable.
What requires medical review
Symptoms, STI care, pregnancy, contraception, medication, HIV prevention, treatment, sexual dysfunction and urgent-care advice should be reviewed. Purely navigational pages may not need the same level of clinical review.
What the reviewer checks
Whether claims match current guidance, whether important exceptions are stated, whether red flags are appropriate, whether time-sensitive advice is correct and whether treatment wording could be misread as self-prescribing.
What the page displays
Reviewer name, relevant credentials, review date and a link to a profile. The page should also show publication and last-modified dates.
Review frequency
High-change topics such as STI treatment, vaccination, PrEP/PEP and contraception should be checked more frequently than stable anatomy pages.
Trigger-based review
Major guideline updates, medicine safety alerts, regulatory changes, corrections or a pattern of reader confusion should trigger an early review.
Conflicts of interest
Reviewers should disclose relevant commercial or professional conflicts that could reasonably affect the topic.
Practical context and next steps
This medical review policy page is part of Openlywell’s trust framework. Readers should be able to understand not only the information itself but also how it is created, reviewed and corrected. The sections on what requires medical review and what the reviewer checks make the standard visible rather than asking users to trust a health website simply because it looks professional.
The policy should be implemented in the product, not left as aspirational copy. CMS fields, permissions, review dates and visible author/reviewer profiles should reflect what this page promises. If the operational process changes, the published policy should be updated so the website and the real workflow remain consistent.
Transparency is especially important for sexual-health information because users may be making private decisions about testing, contraception, symptoms or relationships. Clear limits reduce the chance that a reader mistakes general education for personalised care. Related pages such as Editorial Policy, Corrections Policy, Medical Disclaimer should use the same trust standard.
Questions such as “Does every Openlywell page need a doctor?” and “Can one reviewer cover every sexual-health topic?” belong in a visible FAQ because readers should not have to infer how Openlywell works. Policy language should stay plain, specific and verifiable rather than making broad claims such as “always accurate,” “completely confidential” or “medically approved” when those claims cannot be demonstrated.
A decision checklist for this topic
Before acting on anything you read here, run through this short check.
Before acting on information about medical review policy, make a short personal checklist. What exactly are you trying to prevent, understand or improve? Is the issue new or longstanding? Are there symptoms, pain, bleeding, pregnancy possibility, recent exposures, medicines or health conditions that change the decision? Which parts of the page — especially What requires medical review, What the reviewer checks, What the page displays — apply directly to you, and which are only background information? This approach reduces the chance of taking one sentence out of context or assuming that a common possibility is automatically your diagnosis.
If you are still uncertain after reading, use the questions on this page to decide the next step rather than continuing to search indefinitely. Common starting questions include: Does every Openlywell page need a doctor?; Can one reviewer cover every sexual-health topic?; Is a medical review date the same as a content update date?. Write down the answer you already know and what remains unknown. Then use Editorial Policy, Corrections Policy, Medical Disclaimer or an appropriate healthcare professional to fill the gap. Seeking care is especially important when the missing information depends on examination, a laboratory test, prescription treatment, pregnancy-specific advice or urgent timing.
When to get professional or urgent help
•Medical review does not replace emergency care or personalised clinical assessment.
Safety note: If symptoms are severe, rapidly worsening or described above as urgent, use the appropriate local emergency or same-day healthcare service rather than waiting for an online answer.
Questions & Clear Answers
No. The level of review should match the content, but medically substantive pages need appropriately qualified review.
References & Sources
Openlywell articles are compiled with reference to published guidance from international public-health authorities, professional colleges and peer-reviewed literature.
- [1]WHO — Defining sexual health
- [2]WHO — Sexually transmitted infections fact sheet (10 Sep 2025)