Add/update a CIEL concept attribute value

Hey there,

We’re using existing CIEL concepts to build our laboratory concept dictionary.

We’ve come across some concepts which lack a value range. Is there a process to recommend updates to the CIEL concepts without having to re-create our own and mapping to the existing concept?

For instance the concept Total Protein has a “Low Absolute” value of 0. PIH’s Total Protein concept has “Low Normal” and “High Normal” values. If the values were in the CIEL concept maybe there’d be no need to re-create the PIH one?

Thank you.

Hey @amoko, this is likely a question for @askanter.

For what it’s worth, we sometimes discuss these kinds of questions on the OCL/OpenMRS Squad Call or on CIEL Office Hours. Let us know if you wish to attend either of those and we can make sure you have the call-in information!

Sure, that would be great! I’ll make time and join one of the OCL/OpenMRS Squad calls.

Thanks

Great! Here is the page with the time and call-in info: https://openmrs.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/projects/pages/26937588/OpenMRS+OCL+Squad+Weekly+Meetings

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In general, you can change attribute values like normal ranges without creating a new concept. You should definitely map to the CIEL concept if you do. Absolute value of 0 ensures that no negative numbers are entered if we have no other absolute range to include

Thanks for the response. It’s very helpful to know about the absolute value.

How would I be able to change attribute values without creating a concept?

@amoko We have talked with the OpenMRS-OCL Squad about this idea of Concept Modification in OCL, which essentially allows you to use a CIEL concept but make some minor changes e.g. name, extra attributes like normal ranges, etc. without breaking the link back to the original CIEL concept.

However, while this feature is in development (which is not expected to be released anytime soon), OCL’s Clone operation is the closest thing that we have. It does create a brand new concept with a “same-as” mapping back to the original CIEL concept, along with some other nice shortcuts. It’s the only method we have in OCL to change the normal ranges of a CIEL concept.

Happy to talk through this more if helpful.

Perfect!

We’ve been cloning concepts like you mentioned, and I’m glad to hear that the idea of concept modification is in development.

Thanks.