[Gnumed-devel] Drug browsing / Prescribing module (was Anticoagulation project)

[J Busser]

At 2:58 PM +1100 2/5/05, Thilo Schuler wrote:
> I plan to write a web depoyable (in XUL) drug browsing and hopefully 
> prescribing modul as a uni project during next term (March-June).

Can I emphasize that unless adequate thought is given, a 
"prescribing" module risks being blind to changes made to a patient's 
medication dosage when changes were made BETWEEN prescriptions, as 
they often are.

Patients are often the subject of new or changed medication 
information and it is not just when they newly enter a practice, it 
can result from any contact with a doctor outside the practice or 
even without medical contact as when a patient decides a dsage was 
too strong and reduces or stops the drug.

It is essential to be able to track / input what a patient
- *did* take (though the advice may not have been yours, and they may 
or may not be taking it now)
- *is taking* (even though the prescriber was outside the practice)
- will take (for example, instruction to stop ASA a week before surgery)

A prescription can drive a change to a patient's medication list, but 
the prescription must also benefit from the existence of a medication 
list - it would be BAD to clone a previous prescription without 
realizing that the drug had been stopped or intended to run out (or, 
more often) the dosage had changed since the last prescription.