Compliance
(Yes, the lung pun was unavoidable.)

The important part

Fine Crackles is an independent educational resource. It is intended to help clinicians and trainees become more familiar with interstitial lung disease—not to replace formal training, specialty consultation, current guidelines, or the judgment of a qualified healthcare professional.

The material on this site is provided for general educational purposes. It is not individualized medical advice, does not establish a clinician–patient relationship, and should not be used by patients or clinicians as the sole basis for diagnosis, treatment, or other high-stakes healthcare decisions.

Medicine changes. Although I try to keep the site accurate and up to date, content may become incomplete, outdated, or simply wrong. Please confirm consequential decisions using current primary literature, professional guidance, local protocols, and consultation with appropriately qualified colleagues. That is particularly important in ILD, where multidisciplinary discussion and collaboration with experienced centers of excellence remain standards of care.

Practice within your own (?lung) capacity

This course is meant to improve recognition, clinical reasoning, and first-pass care. It is not designed to make every learner an ILD specialist. Use the material within the boundaries of your training, role, privileges, and local practice environment. When a question exceeds those boundaries or the patient’s situation is complex, uncertain, or high stakes, please seek expert input rather than relying on something you read on the internet, even when the internet has attractive floral lungs.

For patients & members of the public

The site cannot evaluate your symptoms, interpret your individual test results, or recommend treatment for you. Questions about your health should be directed to a licensed healthcare professional who knows your history and can examine the full clinical picture. Do not disregard or delay professional medical care because of something presented here. For an urgent or potentially life-threatening problem, contact your local emergency services.

Evidence has a shelf life

New evidence, regulatory decisions, diagnostic classifications, and clinical guidelines may supersede material on this site. Some of what is discussed may be preliminary, unpublished, reported only in abstract or press-release form, or later interpreted differently. Mention of a study does not mean that its findings are definitive, practice-changing, or applicable to every patient.

Opinions, affiliations, and independence

Unless explicitly stated otherwise, the views expressed here are my own. They do not necessarily represent the views or policies of my employer, affiliated institutions, professional societies, collaborators, or anyone else who has had the good fortune not to be consulted about every sentence on this website. References to products, medications, organizations, publications, or external resources do not necessarily constitute endorsement. Any relevant financial relationships, sponsorships, or conflicts of interest will be disclosed where applicable.

Copyright, attribution, and sharing

Unless otherwise indicated, original text, illustrations, graphics, course materials, and other original content on finecrackles are © 2026-Present, Timothy G. Dyster. All rights reserved.

You are welcome to link to public pages and to cite brief excerpts for legitimate educational, scholarly, commentary, or review purposes, with clear attribution and a link to the original page. Please do not reproduce, republish, sell, substantially adapt, or incorporate the site’s original content into another course, product, database, or commercial resource without written permission.

Some pages may include quotations, images, figures, screenshots, data, trademarks, or other material owned by third parties with reference. Such material is included selectively for purposes such as education, criticism, commentary, scholarship, or discussion and remains the property of its respective rights holders. Sources are credited whenever reasonably possible, and inclusion does not imply affiliation or endorsement.

If you believe material on this site has been used incorrectly, inadequately attributed, or in a way that infringes your rights, please contact me with the page URL and relevant details. I will review the concern promptly and, when appropriate, correct the attribution, replace the material, or remove it.

A note about figures and journal content

Published figures, tables, and images should only be reproduced when the relevant license, permission, or a defensible copyright exception allows it. Linking to the original article, redrawing a concept in an original form, or summarizing findings in your own words is often cleaner than copying a publisher’s figure wholesale.

Where an image or resource is distributed under a Creative Commons or other open license, its use remains subject to the terms of that license. Some medical education sites explicitly license material under Creative Commons, while others reserve all intellectual-property rights, so the applicable terms must be checked source by source.

External links

Links are provided because they may be useful, interesting, or (in the best cases) both. I do not control third-party websites and cannot guarantee their accuracy, availability, security, accessibility, privacy practices, or continued good judgment. A link does not necessarily indicate endorsement, sponsorship, or agreement with everything on the linked site.

No warranties

The site and its content are provided “as is” and “as available.” To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, no guarantee is made that the content is complete, error-free, continuously available, or suitable for a particular purpose.

Questions, corrections, or friendly alarms

Medicine improves when people point out what is missing, outdated, confusing, or wrong. Thoughtful corrections are welcome. Submit using the website contact form. Please do not send identifiable patient information through the website or by ordinary email.