[Gnumed-devel] Solution (?) to FreeDIams' quantity per time vs repeats within day, while supporting WHO ATC / DDD

[Jim Busser]

It has been bothering me that within the FD GUI ("Basics" pane), the user first 
inputs:

        [amount of medication to be taken]
and
        [unit of time in which it is to be taken]
        (most commonly per day)

which works if this amount is inputted as

        Take 6 tablets
        each day

and is then (in the next pane, "Schemes") divided into

        2 in the morning
        2 at mid-day
        2 later in the day

However a problem exists if the user would alternatively begin (in Basics) with

        Take 2 tablets
        each day

and then, in Schemes, employ the "Repeat" subsection to direct the patient

        Repeat
                breakfast
                lunch
                dinner

The result was:

1) a prescription which (in English) was ambiguous "Take 2 ... each day... 
repeat"
2) next, how does this get passed to the EMR which desires to understand the 
total dosage per unit time and, from this, to derive DDD
        http://www.whocc.no/ddd/definition_and_general_considera/

However... the "Repeat" subsection can really only be used (if all all) in the 
context of a "day" ... not a "week" or "month" etc.

So… what if the Basics panel would include the English word "dose" or "time" 
(meaning occasion – in French, "fois" – not clock time)?

The clinician who intends to formulate using "Repeat" could then do:

        Take 2 tablets
        each dose (chaque fois) !!!

Then, DDD becomes clear:

        DDD =

        if "Each" is a subset of {day week month year} AND repeats is null

                DDD = quant / {if each = "day", 1; if each = "week", 7; if each 
= "month", 30.5; if each = "year", 365.25}

        else

                DDD = quant * [count of repeats]

        fi


-- Jim