Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Plans for coming 5 weeks

1. Updating the built-in dictionary used by CDAL - from the list mentioned above (0.5 week: in semester break).
2. Initial Implementation - My work (database) and David's work (interface) need to be implemented together (0.5 week: in semester break).
3. Explore further areas in CDAL - data mining from free-text fields in database. Note that this is not expected to be implemented into CDAL, but only provide an idea in this area. (0.5 week: week 10)
4. Further Testing - At the moment, the CDAL prototype has only been informally tested. The tests performed so far are non-systematic and non-automated. The final CDAL version must be tested for completeness and soundness, using automated tests and must follow a properly designed test model (1 week: week 10-11).
5. Final Implementation - My work (database) and David's work (SNOMED-CT) need to be implemented together (0.5 week: week 11)
6. Demo - Final version of CDAL need to be presented to Jon and hospital staff (1 day: week 12).
7. Documentation - User manual and thesis need be completed (1 week: week 12).

Work done Up to 25/9

SQL Generation

The CDAL prototype is now completed. This prototype is only connected to the ISM and the GICU real-time, and only a limited variables across the different tables can be retrieved.
However, all the major categories can now be extracted, and include the followings:

1. Patient event - All the basic demographic information for patients (E.g. medical record number, sex, etc.)
2. Chart event (Numerical) - All the numerical charted information for patients (E.g. heart rate, peep, cvp, etc.)
3. Chart event (Categorical) - All the categorical charted information for patients (E.g. ventilation mode, airway, etc.)
4. Medication event - All the iv-drip-infusion (sedation and inotropes) information for patients (E.g. Propofol, Fentanyl, etc.)
5. Laboratory event - All the chemical information for patients (E.g. Chloride, Sodium, pH, etc.)
6. Group event - All the group-of-variables pre-defined by the medical staff. Unlike the other event types, this returns more than a single attribute. For example, sedation will return all the propofol, fentanyl, etc. that the patient has taken.


Dictionaries

A list of database terms has been mapped to the terminologies that doctors use, and include all their corresponding synonyms and abbreviations. Please see attached. All terms on this list can now be extracted by the CDAL prototype.

Monday, September 17, 2007

Work done Up to 17/9

SQL Generation

The SQLGenerator has been implemented on both the real-time and the archival databases. This prototype now allows user to make any query involving any attribute that is defined by the underlying dictionaries. The results extracted from both databases are then combined and shown to the user in a text-based interface.

In addition, one more event type called "Group Event" has been defined. Unlike the other event types (such as Chart event, patient event, etc) which returns a single attribute each time, the group event type returns an "aggregated results", meaning a group of pre-defined attributes are returned to the user.

The most common group events are sedation and inotropes, and a typical clinical question that a physician may ask is: "For each patient in the GICU, find the time and dosage of all the sedation that the patient had taken during the last 24 hrs."

The SQLGenerator will then output in the format:
[patient's] [sedation] [dosage] [chart-time]


User Interface
The current user interface should contain the following features:
1. Automatically update the query as the user types and makes selection (with the use of AJAX).
2. Check whether the variable names that the user entered are found by the SNOMED-CT server.
3. Map the terms entered by the user to the underlying database terms.
4. Trace a variable using the SNOMED-CT server in the case that a variable name is not defined.
5. Display the query result in tabular format.

At the moment, feature 1 is completed. Features 2 - 5 are in progress. Feature 2 is currently implemented with a dictionary replacing the SNOMED-CT server.