Re: [Gnumed-devel] Re: Medication viewing

[Karsten Hilbert]

On Thu, Oct 29, 2009 at 12:25:28PM -0700, Jim Busser wrote:

> >>It would mean that within the Medication List, it would only be a
> >>subset of records that represent the current medications
> >>(substances). others would be recorded as having lapsed (without
> >>being restarted) or discontinued for lack of tolerability or
> >>effectiveness or affordability or desire or need. The difference
> >>could be managed in the filtering of the display and any ambiguity
> >>avoided by the use of last_used and status fields.
> >
> >Yes. Judicious use of the available fields would allow for that.
> 
> I cannot find in the PG autodoc-generated v12 (via browser)

I just this afternoon updated the public database.

> a field
> last_used so am not sure if it has been removed or was never
> implemented.
>
> I think it is helpful to hold such a value when for example a
> patient had been instructed to take an antibiotic for a duration of
> 10 days but at a followup visit in 10 days admits they only took the
> medication for 4 days and because they were both nauseated -- and
> did already feel better from their original symptoms -- flushed them
> down the toilet.
> 
> It is IMO totally wrong to alter this current medication row to
> change the duration to 4 days, unless the meaning of "duration" is
> changed from
> 
>       How long is this substances intended to be taken.
> 
> to
> 
>       Intended (or post-hoc actual) duration of use, if known

I see the value in a .last_actually_used field. Let's
document that and keep it for a future revision.

Karsten
-- 
GPG key ID E4071346 @ wwwkeys.pgp.net
E167 67FD A291 2BEA 73BD  4537 78B9 A9F9 E407 1346