An investigation into an information architecture and a related product code for medicinal products

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Thompson, B.H., 1993. An investigation into an information architecture and a related product code for medicinal products. PhD, Nottingham Trent University.

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Abstract

There are many ways of coding and classifying medicinal products, each for its own purposes. This work seeks to investigate and establish the entities of an information architecture for medicinal products. The entitles are used to establish a unique product code based on what are perceived to be the most important elements of a medicinal product. The resultant code should be of a suitably flexible construction to allow any of its constituents to be classified in any combination and, importantly, to allow access to the information architecture. This is particularly important as the use of a code and the constituents of the information architecture differ according to the needs of the user. The concept of using product modelling to determine information architecture is supported by writers in many disciplines.

The study was carried out by determining all the activities in several hospital pharmacies by analysing job descriptions and interviewing pharmacists. From this, Business Activity Models and data flow diagrams were constructed and entity types identified. Study of the entities showed that the entity type MEDICINAL PRODUCT was present in 85% of the total entity types.

The entity type MEDICINAL PRODUCT was modelled on the basis of the legal requirements for Data Sheet information, since it was reasoned that this was the minimum amount of information required to define an information architecture for a MEDICINAL PRODUCT. Additions to the theoretical legal model were also identified which were necessary in order to apply practically the model.

The MEDICINAL PRODUCT was then modelled on the basis of practical experience and experiment. By comparing these models with the theoretical model, the comprehensiveness of these practical models was determined to provide a comprehensive information architecture for a MEDICINAL PRODUCT and a product coding system.

The usefulness of the information architecture to provide a basis for classification was also investigated by developing a tablet and capsule identification system based on one model. The findings showed that it was possible to identify tablets and capsules except when their attributes of colour, size and markings were identical. It was concluded that the model was suitable for classification purposes but was limited in practice by the product attributes.

Importantly, the minimum amount of code to identify uniquely medicinal products was determined. However, certain product groups, eg Insulins and dextrans, did not conform to the unique code and had to be allocated local codes. The code also provides a method of dosage calculation, and together with the validated model for ingredients, provides a method of calculating total dose of similar ingredients. The code was compared and contrasted with existing coding systems in order to validate its advantages and disadvantages.

The modular structure of the code gives opportunities for expansion and user choice modules.

Item Type:

Thesis

Creators:

Thompson, B.H.

Date:

1993

ISBN:

9781369323542

Identifiers: