Homework: Clinical Information System
                              
            (Introduction to Medical Informatics)
         (http://www.cpmc.columbia.edu/edu/textbook)

The purpose of this homework is to give you a user's view of
a clinical information system, both the good and the bad.
Find the following data:

Patient A

(1) The "CHEM 7 PROFILE" profile from 9/19/1995 at 8:15 has
     an "interpretation." What is the patient's "anion gap"
     (a number), and what formula was used to calculate it?

(2) When did the patient have a "VQ SCAN"?

(3) Find a "discharge" summary from February 1994. When was
     the patient discharged? Has the discharge summary been
     reviewed by the physician, or is it still
     "preliminary"?

(4) The patient has a computer "alert" on 1/21/1994. It is
     based on reading the "serum creatinine" level from what
     date?

Patient B

(5) What (and when) were the last 6 serum or plasma
     creatinines ("CREAT") on this patient? (They are found
     in tests called "CHEM 7 PROFILE," "CHEM 20 PROFILE,"
     "CHEM20," "CHEM7," "CHEM-7," "CHEMISTRY PROFILE T,"
     "SMAC.")

(6) What did the chest X-ray done 6/26/1985 on this patient
     show?

Patient C

(7) The patient has had a "tuberculosis" infection (also
     known as "TB" or "AFB"). Find at least four different
     pieces of evidence that confirm this.

Patient D

(8) How old is the patient?

(9) What was the dose of the medication called "Cefuroxime
     sodium"? Is it still being given?

(10) When did the patient have a diagnosis of "CHF"
     (congestive heart failure)?

Please note:

You are looking at confidential data. DO NOT record any
     identifying patient information (eg, name or medical
     record number), on the same sheets as the data itself.
     The separation of identifying information from clinical
     data is standard practice in clinical research; it
     reduces the risk of revealing sensitive information.