Re: [Gnumed-devel] ?Do we want another gnuMed.au Conference soon

[Ian Haywood]

On Thu, Feb 20, 2003 at 05:07:01PM +1100, richard terry wrote:
> to minimize travel costs for everybody (personally, Lismore suits me 
> fine - but since Coffs Harbour gets service by Virgin it has become a 
> low cost option too)
A conference would be good, the disadvantage is that we lose the German
input. I think, in addition, we should have some agreed times to chat on
an ICQ channel. Less exciting, but better for some technical issues that
need resolving, in particular:
        - settling on an internal API for database access
        - getting gmclinical finished (or at least workable)
        - agreeing on a list of key functions to complete (scripts,
notes, demographics) and delagating those tasks

Once we have a basic system, it is much easier for people to add-on
smaller components in their own time (Obstetric, Allergies, Referrals,
etc.). It also becomes more saleable to
guys like Ken Harvey for decision-support research.

On that point, I might mention some of the stuff I saw at Therapeutic
Guidelines (1) two weeks ago:
They have (will) convert all of the Guidelines into XML format, so that
a displayed guideline can be customised to the patient (so paediatric
can the calculated dose, for adults, the paed dose isn't displayed at
all) Currently they do this by transforming the XML into JavaScript, so
a web page will appear which can modify itself, looks pretty slick.

Shouldn't be too hard to convert to Python, so guidelines can be
displayed in GNUMed so customised. Ken Harvey mentioned money may be
available to do this from various bodies (NPS (2) in particular)

The Guidelines are non-free of course, but Ken has pointed out there is
enough commonality of purpose to warrant co-operating. My proposal has
been to put demo versions of GNUMed in the therapeutic guidelines CD, a
good way of leveraging the TG brand to get gnumed "Out There".


(1. Therapeutic Guidelines is a series of pocketbooks summarizing
therapeutic in various areas. Noted for strict usage of generic names
and a total lack of pharmaceutical advertising.)

(2. National Prescribing Service)

As an aside. the other really interesting thing Ken mentioned was that
the NPS has been debating interactions databases. Apparently one senior
pharmacist commented "at least we could get the top 20-30 interactions 
in [the databases], that cause 90% of the problems". Obviously, it would
be nice if NPS could bring themselves to name these 30 interactions!


Ian