[Gnumed-devel] Coding SOAP - Richard's comments

[Richard Terry]

To reply to this earlier thread, I've worked extensively with coding in 
3 IT projects - script writing, pathology and diabetes. We explored many 
of the coding systems and certainly ICPC Plus came out ahead in terms of 
using more natural language (especially GP oriented) and can be mapped 
back to the others.

The advantage of coding SOAP lines if possible to ICPC can include later 
trawling the database for say  all patients who presented with a 
particular symptom (S) with a particular diagnosis (A) who were given 
say a particular drug (P)

Now if you follow the data entry paradigm I've outlined extensively (and 
well exemplified in the docs on say pathology ordering, data in the SOAP 
edit area, like all the edit area is easy to enter and easy to code if 
part of the entry system involves text delimiters ie.

S: earache;fever;sore throat;
0: red ear drum;
A;otitis media;
P etc

Note that using the popup phrase wheel causes the ICPC diagnoses to 
automatically be supplied to the user. Any new languages that does not 
exist in ICPC should be saved back to the database tagged to the doctors 
ID, so that it too is included in the phrase wheel. That way over a 
period of time, as the user uses the program, it becomes easier and 
easier and quicker and quicker to fill in the lines, as we tend to 
describe things the same way all the time.

This is the method I used in my program.

To attach the ICPC code to the SOAP lines is incredibly quick and simply 
as one simply parses out each line into an array, using the de-limiter, 
here a ';' key, and compares to the ICPC stuff. If not present it is 
dealt with appropriately as 'not coded'. Malcolm Ireland and I back in 
1996 developed a user extensible ICPC coding system where the user could 
equate synonyms of their own to the ICPC codes in a separate module.

I would emphasise here again, it is vitally important that we use some 
sort of delimiter for the reasons outlined above. It speeds up data 
entry and parsing by a huge factor.

Regards

Richard