Re: [Gnumed-devel] Medication schema - how to represent concentration

[Karsten Hilbert]

On Sat, Sep 03, 2011 at 12:05:56AM -0700, Jim Busser wrote:

> but how shall I store entities like
> 
>       13.7 g / 100 g (for example medication in creams)
> 
>       50 mg / 5 ml (for example cough syrups)
> 
> ??
> 
> Shall I make
> 
>       amount = 13.7
>       unit = g / 100 g
> 
>       amount = 50
>       unit = mg / 5 ml
>       
> ??

Well, "concentration" only incidentally corresponds to
"dose" in tablets (and only if one whole tablet is
taken per dose).

So, strictly speaking, there's two answers:

1)      amount = 13.7; unit = mass-%
        amount = 10; unit = mass-% (assuming a density of 1kg/1l)

2)      calculate the *actual* dose patients are to take !

The latter is what's clinically relevant.

        "Cream 13.7mass-%" -> 5x/day: "2 <cm>" (!)

        "syrup 50mg/5ml" -> evening: "100 <mg>" or "2 <5ml measurement spoons>" 
or "10 <ml>"

Such instructions are common in pediatrics (at least I do it ;-)

Loosely speaking one can use anything that's useful to the
patient and unambigous.

Karsten
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