A sample dataset containing dispensing events (one per row) for 16 patients
over a period of roughly 24 months (1794 events in total).
This is the appropriate format to compute event durations with the
compute_event_durations function. Each row represents an individual dispensing
record for a specific dose of a specific medication for a patient at a given date.
More than one column to group medications can be supplied (such as ATC code, Form and Unit).
durcomp.dispensingA data frame with 1794 rows and 6 variables:
integer here; patient unique identifier. Can also be string.
Date here;the dispensing event date, by default in the yyyy-mm-dd format. Can also be string.
character; the medication type, according to the WHO ATC
classification system. This can be a researcher-defined classification
depending on study aims (e.g., based on therapeutic use, mechanism of
action, chemical molecule, or pharmaceutical formulation). The compute_event_durations
function will match prescribed medication to dispensed medications based on this variable.
integer; the unit of the dispensed dose. This is optional and can be used as a separate variable to match between prescription and dispensing events.
character; the galenic form of the dispensed preparation. This is optional and can be used as a separate variable to match between prescription and dispensing events.
numeric; the total dispensed dose supplied at this
medication event (e.g., 5000 for 10 tables of 500 mg).