Can anyone explain what the field of RXE-25 in HL-7v2 means? The description is "Give strength". I have read the official explanation, but I feel this is ambiguous. I am not sure whether this field should contain a)the strength of a single tablet/dose form vs b)the total strength to administer.
For example, hydroxychloroquine [HCQ] is a lupus medication that comes in 200 mg tablets. Lupus patients are frequently started off on 400 mg of this per day (ie 2 tablets).
Let's say RXE-3 ("Give Amount - Minimum") is "2", and RXE-5 ("Give Units") is "tablet". And let's assume there are multiple tablet strengths, so we don't know what dose that is. Would one put the per-tablet dose in RXE-25 (ie "200" mg), or instead put the entire dose (2 tablets="400" mg)?
Actually, I found the answer hidden in another part of the HL7 documentation, specifically under the RXO segment (RXO-18 Requested Give Strength). Per that documentation, this applies to various RX_ segments.
The example given:
One way would be: "Ampicillin 250 mg capsules, 2 capsules four times a day." In this case the give amount would be 2, the give units would be capsules, the strength would be 250 and the strength units would milligrams.
So it seems the GIVE STRENGTH AMOUNT (if present, and no GIVE DRUG STRENGTH VOLUME is specified) is multiplied by the GIVE AMOUNT to come up with the total dose. So I believe the answer to the example in the question would be a) 200 mg.