On Wed, 15 May 2002 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > I too agree FUPI needs some tweaking and evaluations before we can as a > group or in groups utilize it as a successful construct.
Alan, The trade-off between fixed vs. flexible schema is the same whether we are talking about personal identifiers or documenting blood pressure. FUPI trades flexibility (of personal identifers) for simplicity. Basically, FUPI says that certain fields (name, DOB, etc) are *required*. What you gain from this is simplicity - i.e. no need to lookup an abitrary id code, just generate it from readily available identifiers. While some of us favor one over the other, I don't see any reason to make FUPI into PIDS. What would be the point? I think FUPI should remain light-weight and simple (to implement + use). Whether or not it is an useful solution for any given application is a different issue (like what Tim Cook said). Of course, forcing everyone to identify patients with the same schema could be just as hard as forcing everyone to document blood pressure the same way. :-) > And I spent quite a bit of time reviewing a number of optional ways to > approach this/these issues. Me too. The OIO system currently implements a PIDS architecture. However, I must admit that it is over-engineered for what we need it to do up to this time. > The sole driving force is to find one way that works for the greatest number > of physicians, patients, groups and systems. This sounds like a good goal. Since needs vary from group to group and place to place, flexibilty/customizability is also going to be a factor in the equation. > In reality we will never get ANYTHING to ever work for ALL or meet everyone's > needs. Speaking for myself, I think we can get much closer by developing tools that make flexible schema easier to produce and use. I am not going to speak for Thomas Beale but you may want to read his "future-proof" paper to see what he really means by "future-proof". Maybe you will be convinced that it is possible afterall. :-) Best regards, Andrew --- Andrew P. Ho, M.D. OIO: Open Infrastructure for Outcomes www.TxOutcome.Org (Hosting OIO Library #1 and OSHCA Mirror #1)
