[Gnumed-devel] Unable to clearly enough select a combo drug from Add button > Brand by component

[Busser, Jim]

My problem is that, in Canada, the combination which contains

        hydrochorothiazide 12.5 mg
        ramipril 10mg

is called Altace HCT but this same name is used for

        hydrochorothiazide 12.5 mg
        ramipril 5mg

as is evident from this join of brand and consumable substance data, ordered by 
drug external code. What I was desiring to select for my patient was the third 
"pair" (ext code 02283158):

 description | pk1  | pk2  | so | ext_code |    external_code_type    |     
description     | atc_code | amount | unit 
-------------+------+------+----+----------+--------------------------+---------------------+----------+--------+------
 Altace Hct  | 9574 | 3709 |  8 | 02283131 | FreeDiams::CA_HCDPD::DIN | 
hydrochlorothiazide | C03AA03  |   12.5 | mg
 Altace Hct  | 9574 | 6058 |  8 | 02283131 | FreeDiams::CA_HCDPD::DIN | 
ramipril            | C09AA05  |    2.5 | mg
 Altace Hct  | 9575 | 6059 |  8 | 02283158 | FreeDiams::CA_HCDPD::DIN | 
ramipril            | C09AA05  |    5.0 | mg
 Altace Hct  | 9575 | 3709 |  8 | 02283158 | FreeDiams::CA_HCDPD::DIN | 
hydrochlorothiazide | C03AA03  |   12.5 | mg
 Altace Hct  | 9576 | 3709 |  8 | 02283166 | FreeDiams::CA_HCDPD::DIN | 
hydrochlorothiazide | C03AA03  |   12.5 | mg
 Altace Hct  | 9576 | 6060 |  8 | 02283166 | FreeDiams::CA_HCDPD::DIN | 
ramipril            | C09AA05  |   10.0 | mg
 Altace Hct  | 9577 | 6059 |  8 | 02283174 | FreeDiams::CA_HCDPD::DIN | 
ramipril            | C09AA05  |    5.0 | mg
 Altace Hct  | 9577 | 3711 |  8 | 02283174 | FreeDiams::CA_HCDPD::DIN | 
hydrochlorothiazide | C03AA03  |   25.0 | mg
 Altace Hct  | 9578 | 6060 |  8 | 02283182 | FreeDiams::CA_HCDPD::DIN | 
ramipril            | C09AA05  |   10.0 | mg
 Altace Hct  | 9578 | 3711 |  8 | 02283182 | FreeDiams::CA_HCDPD::DIN | 
hydrochlorothiazide | C03AA03  |   25.0 | mg
(10 rows)

however when I input into GNUmed 1.2's "Brand by component" filter the string

        Altace HCT

I am offered

        hydrochlorothiazide 12.5mg tablet (Altace Hct)
        hydrochlorothiazide 25.0mg tablet (Altace Hct)
        ramipril 10.0mg tablet (Altace Hct)
        ramipril 5.0mg tablet (Altace Hct)
        ramipril 2.5mg tablet (Altace Hct)

and my problem is that selecting the desired lower strength of 
hydrochlorothiazide does not resolve to the desired combo, because there are 
two such combos (one with 5mg and one with 10mg) and the desired 
hydrochlorothiazide *happens* to be the one that is linked to the 5mg strength 
of ramipril.

Only through trial and error did I resolve that a selection of ramipril 10mg 
gained me the combination that I wanted (because it is possible that it could 
have been linked to the higher, 25mg dose of hydrochlorothiazide).

This also reminds me that a combo drug 'description' (brand name) will not 
always make clear in GNUmed that the drug is a combo drug... when I wrote my 
data pack, I had preferred to keep the Brand names unaltered.

It would be better if a user, when selecting a component, could more clearly 
know whether their selection was part of a multi-component drug. Can the 
phrasewheel know this information and in such cases can the brand name be 
surrounded by double parens instead of single e.g.

        hydrochlorothiazide 12.5mg tablet ((Altace Hct))
        hydrochlorothiazide 25.0mg tablet ((Altace Hct))
        ramipril 10.0mg tablet ((Altace Hct))
        ramipril 5.0mg tablet ((Altace Hct))
        ramipril 2.5mg tablet ((Altace Hct))

which allows to communicate to the user without having to further complicate 
the Brand names. Yes, I know I can rewrite my data pack to modify the Brand 
names so that they are no longer, in fact, proper brand names but there is a 
downside to that. Also, my proposal adds safety because it helps visually hint 
to prevent accidental user selection of a combo drug, when they intended only a 
single-component drug.

-- Jim