Re: [Gnumed-devel] adding new table to clin schema

[Karsten Hilbert]

Hi Jerzy,

I wanted to get the purely technical questions out of the
way before offering some thoughts as to the conceptual side
of things.

> I need to store various information regarding spasticity, like scores
> in tests (GMFCS, GMFM-88, Ashworth etc.).

Questions I'd answer for myself before embarking:

- Do I need the score *result* to be available for
  *computation* later on ?

        For that, either a table or a test result entry would
        work. Judicious use of a dedicated sOap entry would in
        clin.clin_narrative would, too. A normal sOap row
        could receive the "computation" in text form by means
        of a keyword expansion.

- Do I need the data points which led to the score result to
  be available for further computatation later on ?

        Then you definitely need a dedicated table holding
        intermediate values - unless you'd want to make each one
        a test result or would want to resort to twisting a
        dedicated sOap clin.clin_narrative row into submission
        by stuffing YAML, XML, JSON, ReST, whatnot into it.

- For real computations (rather than simple classifications),
  do I want to write a real calculator (/business/gmClinicalCalculator.py) ?

- Might those scores be manageable by using a PDF form and
  pseudo-printing them ?

        GNUmed can handle PDF form templates into which the user
        enters values. Filled in PDFs get stored as documents
        for the patient. Document comments (or descriptions) can
        store programmatically accessible score results if need be.

- Are those scores not maybe coding systems (codes from
  which can be attached to clin.clin_narrative rows) ?

- Do I want the "current"/"latest" score to be visible as a
  patient tag in the top panel below the name ?

        The existence/non-existence of a tag in a patient is
        programmatically accessible, values (the score result)
        could be stored as the tag comment.

- Do I want a hook script to remind me of missing/too-old
  assessments of said scores when opening a patient ?

- Do I want dynamic clinical hints to remind me of them
  scores ?

Note that you don't need to answer all those questions (the
first ones are most relevant to actual implementation). It's
just that I'm pointing out what GNUmed already offers to
maybe help you find a fit for your needs.

Karsten
-- 
GPG key ID E4071346 @ gpg-keyserver.de
E167 67FD A291 2BEA 73BD  4537 78B9 A9F9 E407 1346