Grahame Grieve wrote:
> I agree with this - that's it good enough now.
>
> I think this thread is starting to talk about things which aren't 
> properly part of the data type, they are conceptual things about
> the result values, and should be modelled explicitly in the archetypes.
Grahame,

is it your feeling that we need to have a better model of accuracy, i.e. 
more like the confidence interval idea? Or are we ok with what we have? 
My gut feeling is to leave the current DV_QUANTITY the way it is and 
consider either
a) doing nothing - treat Tim's requirements as requirements not on 
primary data going into the EHR, but on generated data of the kind found 
in an epidemiological/statistical style of system or
b) add a variant of DV_QUANTITY (probably a subtype) that does the full 
deal (and is convertible into a vanilla DV_QUANTITY).

thoughts anyone?

- thomas

>
> Grahame
>
>
>
>
> Thomas Beale wrote:
>>
>> Sam would be better able to give an idea of all the health 
>> professionals who have been consulted, but certainly in Australia, 
>> Vince McCauley (a pathologist) has been extremely helpful on 
>> pathology result detail. Also, people like Heath Frankel and Grahame 
>> Grieve who have worked with HL7v2 messages for years have provided 
>> quite a lot of input on details (for example in Release 1.0, there is 
>> now a summary attribute for Historical data structures, directly due 
>> to Grahame's advice on the shape of lab data his software handles - 
>> see 
>> http://www.openehr.org/uml/Browsable/_9_0_76d0249_1109157527311_729550_7234Report.html).
>>  
>>
>>
>> Is it enough? At this stage I would be fairly confident that the 
>> models are good enough for most pathology data (certainly everything 
>> any of the docs working with openEHR has seen). Are they perfect? Of 
>> course not. We always need more input. The confidence level stuff 
>> implied by your requirements (let's treat them as epi/public health 
>> data requirements) would make things better; we just have to 
>> determine a) what scope of data they apply to (e.g. how much 
>> sophistication do we need in the EHR compared to say a dedicated data 
>> warehouse designed for statistical studies?) and b) how to add them 
>> to the current model in a way compatible with what is there.
>>
>> I think that he idea of a workshop is a good one; I would prefer to 
>> see clinical professionals here take up the suggestion and do 
>> something with it; I don't see these kinds of discussions as being IT 
>> driven - they are all about articulating requirements.
>>
>> - t
>>
>>
>> Tim Churches wrote:
>>> Thomas Beale wrote:
>>>  
>>>> Tim Churches wrote:
>>>>   
>>>>>  
>>>>>     
>>>>>> Tim, if the accuracy_is_percent attribute was upgraded to a coded
>>>>>> value, could you suggest a set of meanings that would cover all the
>>>>>> epi/PH needs?
>>>>>>             
>>>>> You'll have to tell me what that would involve. A single coded value?
>>>>> Upper and lower limits? Confidence level. Type of limit?
>>>>>         
>>>> well, essentially what you are proposing     
>>>
>>> Not proposing anything, I'm just asking the question "Have you thought
>>> about this?"
>>>
>>>  
>>>> would require (let's not get
>>>> too pure about how I use the word "accuracy" here for the moment):
>>>> - lower accuracy limit: Real
>>>> - upper accuracy limit: Real
>>>> - accuracy limit type: coded term
>>>> - confidence level (or this could be part of the previous coded
>>>> attribute, since only a small number of confidence bands are used in
>>>> practice aren't they?)
>>>>
>>>> Now, what we currently have is a set of general purpose quantity 
>>>> classes
>>>> designed to enabled recording of any quantitative data we have come
>>>> across so far. Between various MDs such as Sam, Vince and others, I
>>>> think we have pathology covered from a practical point of view 
>>>> (well, we
>>>> do once we get this <, >, etc thing sorted).
>>>>     
>>>
>>> Just curious: have you had much input from pathologists, 
>>> microbiologists
>>> and lab scientists? The more one talks to such people, the more one
>>> discovers about the uncertainties inherent in certain assay techniques,
>>> and the differences in the scalar (and qualitative or Boolean) results
>>> produced by different assay kits and different labs.
>>>
>>> Oh, there's another form of uncertainty which typically is of relevance
>>> to Boolean/dichotomous results (positive/negative, detected/not 
>>> detected
>>> etc) and that is the sensitivity and specificity of the test, or the
>>> related quantities PPV (positive predictive value) and NPV. (Note to
>>> computer scientists: "specificity" and "sensitivity" are cognate with
>>> "precision" and "recall".)
>>>
>>>  
>>>> The real question is: what is the type & origin of data that need to
>>>> represented in the more sophisticated way that we are now 
>>>> suggesting? Is
>>>> it a different category of data? Should be leave the current 
>>>> DV_QUANTITY
>>>> as is and add a new subtype? Or is it that we should consider a 
>>>> quantity
>>>> with a 95% T-distribution confidence interval as a pretty normal 
>>>> thing?
>>>> Should we then start considering the "simple" idea of a symmetric
>>>> accuracy range (+/- xxx) as really just one specific type of  a
>>>> confidence interval (it might translate to something like 98% on a
>>>> normal curve). In other words, should we generalise he "accuracy" 
>>>> notion
>>>> into a "confidence interval" notion?
>>>>     
>>>
>>> I think that a one or two day workshop with a range of pathologists,
>>> microbiologists, lab scientists, epidemiologists and statisticians (and
>>> some clinicians and computer scientists, of course) would suffice to
>>> come up with sensible answer to your question. I'd be happy to
>>> participate and to suggest other participants. First half day would 
>>> need
>>> to be spent bringing everyone up to speed on openEHR so they understand
>>> the nature of the question(s) to be addressed (and a good means of
>>> spreading the openEHR gospel while you're at it...).
>>>
>>> Might be possible to hold a cyber-workshop instead, via email or
>>> real-time conferencing. The former would be much slower, of course.
>>>
>>> Tim C
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>   
>>
>>
>


-- 
___________________________________________________________________________________
CTO Ocean Informatics (http://www.OceanInformatics.biz)
Research Fellow, University College London (http://www.chime.ucl.ac.uk)
Chair Architectural Review Board, openEHR (http://www.openEHR.org)


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