> Consider a maximum temperature measured over a 12 hour period - or an > average. At the moment the date/time will be the beginning of the 12 hr > period. > > My suggestion is that clinicians will record this at the end of the 12 > hours and the date/time should reflect this. > > That is to say: > > a 12hr maximum temperature of 36 C over the period 0600-1800 on 2004 Jan > 01 should be: > > 2004 Jan 01 1800 12hr max Temperature = 36 C > > and not > > 2004 Jan 01 0600 12hr max Temperature = 36 C I think one should think of it this way: The temperature value (be that average or maximum) gets recorded as soon as it is known (hopefully). Hence the second version (@0600) seems wrong. The first version seems OK but it seems to hide something implicitely. There are actually two things being recorded: a) the maximum temperature - recorded at a given time. b) the time range this maximum applies to - eg an interval that needs to be recorded, too !
It just so happens that many recorded values will have their time of recording and their time of occurrence *coincide*. In many cases that will suffice, too, and in many cases - say GP level free text for an encounter - it does not matter too much whether I record the progress now when I hear it or two hours later. Nonetheless are there two times: recording and occurrence. Which should - in cases where it matters - be explicitely modelled. Paper charts make us forget about this distinction because we routinely lie about the time of recording, eg. we put down the time of occurrence while we actually mean that of recording. Karsten -- GPG key ID E4071346 @ wwwkeys.pgp.net E167 67FD A291 2BEA 73BD 4537 78B9 A9F9 E407 1346 - If you have any questions about using this list, please send a message to d.lloyd at openehr.org
