Re: [Gnumed-devel] Comments on 0.2: storing degrees of certainty ("qualifiers")

[Karsten Hilbert]

On Thu, Aug 16, 2007 at 12:07:11AM +0100, Adrian Midgley wrote:

> I've tended to think that having a list of things (drugs, etc) to
> _avoid_ is a good idea.
Yes. Our "allergy" table isn't tied to drugs. It can store
other things.

> Recording why to avoid them is also probably a good idea.
There's a field "reaction" which can store what happens if
the patient doesn't avoid the thing in question.

> Allergy is a reason to avoid something.
Ah, I see. Looking at it the other way round. Since
"allergy" and "sensitivity" are lookups already (foreign
keys, that is) they are already recorded as *reasons* for
avoiding the recorded thing. So, adding  another lookup
value, say, "can't stand that person" (or "triggers
seizure") will add another reason for a row in that
"allergy" table. Which apparently is a misnomer and should
be called "avoidities" or something to that effect.

Actually, we are recording two orthogonal things here:

- things to be avoided ("allergies")
- things to be reminded of ("caveats", say "pacemaker")

Looking at it this way makes for a better understanding of
how Cave relates to "allergies" which is put forth in our
roadmap.

Thanks,
Karsten
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