Re: [Gnumed-devel] drugref2 in Oscar

[Jim Busser]

On 2010-02-15, at 12:08 PM, Sebastian Hilbert wrote:

>> would exist a primary "reference" drugref server,
>> ideally mirrored for load-balancing, against which locally-installed
>> drugrefs would remain "in sync" ?
> 
> Nah. that is pure overkill. Here in Germany where drug databases are 
> essential 
> for doctors there are quarterly updates of the drug data. No need to sync 
> more 
> often. Maybe I don't get your point here.

Maybe divisible into two sections:

A - drugref structure and function
B - drugref content

A - whoever would install drugref locally would
i) install a particular version of the drugref database
ii) install a particular version of the drugref server software
iii) install a particular version of the drugref interface software (of which 
more than one interface could exist)

so for Aiii) would it be a GNUmed client plugin which "is" the interface or 
would the GNUmed client plugin be the GNUmed "side" of a "GNUmed <--> Drugref 
interface" and would we store and maintain this plugin code with the GNUmed 
project despite that there may be some generic e.g. web browser interface that 
drugref maintainers may like to keep available with the drugref source code?

and then with regard to "B" (drugref content), the ability to easily import 
country-specific drug data into the locally installed drugref will depend on 
the compatibility of the  form in which the source data is provided (which can 
change over time) and also the version of the drugref database. Therefore 
before trying to reimport or "refresh" what is in one's local drugref, it would 
be important to know if there existed any change to the form in which the 
source data was being provided...

... so I agree that while each praxis could figure this out, this would be true 
for each praxis, whether using Oscar or GNUmed or other EMR within any one 
country (or source of data, internationally). This would make it more sensible 
to co-ordinate any "import and/or refresh" scripts through a 
centrally-maintained drugref project which organizes such scripts per-source.