Difference between RxNorm Native and External Data Loads

Management and Administration
#1

I am confused about what exactly is being uploaded in these two cases.

When I go to Administration->Other->Native Data Loads I see:

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When I go to Administration->Other->External Data Loads, there is an RxNorm option:

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With different download instructions:

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Also, I noticed in list_staged.php that the external load is expecting a filename of the form /RxNorm_full_([0-9]{8}).zip/, whereas the native data load instructions tell the user to upload a “Prescribable” file (i.e. /RxNorm_full_prescribe_([0-9]{8}).zip/).

I’m very confused. Is there some documentation on what is going on in these two cases.

Thanks!

RxNorm autocomplete prescription function
#2

believe originally the external data load was there to integrate rxnorm with all of openemr which is still pending

then rxcui, the smaller file, was brought in via native load to work with MU2 medications

the files are further explained at
https://www.nlm.nih.gov/research/umls/rxnorm/docs/rxnormfiles.html

#3

hi

Yep, this isn’t very clear. Prob need to clean up this documentation a bit.

The External data load will bring in the entire huge rxnorm dataset and was introduced into the codebase about 4 years ago. It actually had no code that used it until code recently by @juggernautsei that uses it to support drug interaction checking:
http://www.open-emr.org/wiki/index.php/Administration_Globals#Rx_NLM_Drug-Drug

The Native Data Load was then added more recently by @sunsetsystems since it was easier to manage than the large import and is used for mapping medications(from Issues) and maybe prescriptions(not sure about this) to rxnorm codes.

-brady

#4

Hello Greg_Zancewicz,

Hope the below link also will add few points regarding Native Data Loads

Thanks,
ViSolve

#5

@stephenwaite, @visolveemr, @brady.miller - Thank you all for all the information.