Issue 21-103: For 18.11, Mr. Marshall refactored the SAMIHL7 and SAMIOR routines to increase maintainability. But as sometimes happens during refactoring, he introduced a bug. In this case, in BLDARR^SAMIORM he moved a new command that should have been outside a loop inside the loop instead. This meant that instead of building an array of lines for each incoming ORM message, it instead kept overwriting line 1, so the resulting message received only included the last line of the message. This resulted in the creation of cryptic stub entries in patients’ ORM subgraphs, which in turn resulted in blank lines in the Worklist.

Solution: The new command was moved outside the loop where it belongs, so all new incoming ORM messages will be processed and appear on the Worklist correctly. In the interests of fixing SAMIORM ASAP, cleanup of the existing stub entries will be left for Patch 14, to leave time to find and develop the best solution.

Reported: 2021-06-07 by Murphy and Jirapatnakul.

Issue 21-109: The radiologists are still using IE, and the CT form causes an error in IE. The radiologist started to enter a form with nodules and saved for later, but when he went back, the nodule grid was not expanded and could not be. When the form loads we get the following JavaScript error:

Solution: Fixed.

Reported: 2021-06-15 by Jirapatnakul.

Issue 21-122: The VAPALS-ELCAP research team and the Phoenix VAPALS-ELCAP team need to be able to use this report to work out which participants have not been contacted for the longest time, so they can contact them next. This will replace what is currently a manual tracking process involving spreadsheets.

Solution: Add the date from the last entry from the contact log on the Intake form to this report, and sort by it in reverse order, oldest to newest; add the log entry as a column; then move Enrollment Date to end of columns.

Reported: 2021-07-12 by Henschke.

Issue 21-105: Selecting Mild for Emphysema on the CT form causes the CT report to list Minimal instead, which does not match. The report should also say Mild, so they agree.

Solution: Fixed.

Reported: 2021-06-10 by Jirapatnakul and Slaughter.

Issue 21-124: The Most Recent Comparative Study field currently puts the date of the current CT form. The field should be the most recent previous CT date, not the current date.

Solution: Fixed.

Reported: 2021-07-12 by Jirapatnakul and Slaughter.

Issue 21-140: VAPALS-ELCAP users need to be able to sort each user report by any field. They also need to be able to specify how many entries they would like per page: 10, 25, 50, or 100. Users also need the ability to search everything within any report, so you can search for dates or SSNs/MRNs, for example. Users also need the ability to sort within another sort.

Solution: Done. This change removes the total number of entries from the top of the page, but it is easy to see if number of entries per page is set to 10.

Reported: 2021-08-10 by Henschke.

Issue 21-020: 18.11 introduced a change dating back to 2020-07 that capitalizes each name (first letter uppercase, rest lowercase) for storage in the VAPALS-ELCAP graph. Since patient names are converted to uppercase for lookups, conversions, and other calculations, this did not really affect users of the app, but it meant names can be stored inconsistently, which can be distracting for programmers and troubleshooters.

Solution: To simplify the graph, since patient names in CPRS and Vista are recorded in uppercase, 18.12 changes PID^SAMIORM to store them the same way. We’re deferring the question of whether to convert all existing patient names in the graph until after discussion with the VA Phoenix team, so if such a conversion is written, it will be part of a future version.

Reported: 2021-03-04 by Morales.

Issues 20-10 and 21-050: VA staff do not use the ICN to identify patients.

Solution: ICN block removed.

Reported: 2021-01-22 by Morales. Jira VAP-486.

Issue 21-017: As VAPALS-ELCAP matures, it is becoming increasingly clear that the app needs the ability to vary field labels and behavior depending on the site, and maybe by user, institution, or other such variables. The app needs a parameterization framework to switch appearance and behavior based on parameters.

Solution: A new file SAMI PARAMETER DEFAULTS (311.14) was introduced to name parameters and set their defaults. New fields were added to file SAMI SITE (311.12) to override those defaults for any given site, a suite of initial parameters was created, and the SAMI routines were updated to respond to those params; a new web service—get params—was created so the forms can query the current parameter values.

Reported: 2021-03-02 by SAMI development team.

Issue 21-057: Various fields on the SAMI forms are good candidates for having parameterized labels, such as references to social security number (instead of medical record number) or to veterans (instead of patients/participants).

Solution: These labels were modified throughout SAMI to respond to parameter settings.

Reported: 2021-05-10 by Lilly.

Issue 21-088: Whether the Matching Report is an item on the Reports Menu should be controlled by parameter.

Solution: Parameter added and implemented to hide the Matching Report if site doesn’t need or use it.

Reported: 2021-06-01 by Yaw.

Issue 21-051: The initial database architecture for SAMI assumed each VAPALS-ELCAP instance would support only a single site, so social security numbers were assumed to be unique. When VAPALS-ELCAP was upgraded in SAMI 18.5 to allow multiple sites to share an instance (aka multi-tenancy), as a side effect this SSN restriction inadvertently became a restriction that no two sites could have patients with the same SSN. This is a problem, because many veterans are served by multiple VA sites.

Solution: The restriction was changed to allow patients with the same SSN at multiple sites within the same VAPALS-ELCAP instance as a followup/completion of the multi-tenancy work.

Reported: 2021-04-27 by Rukavena.

Issue 21-127: The VAPALS-ELCAP data dictionaries (DDs) are used to drive the data export process, so when field definitions are revised or new fields are added but the DDs are not updated, it can leave the export out of sync with the actual data.

Solution: VAPALS-ELCAP includes manual processes to update the DDs, but these have not been used since the original release, even though numerous fields have been added and others modified. A future version of the app can use our packaging tools to automatically run these updates for every SAMI package that affects the definition of the form fields, to keep them up to date going forward. But for 18.12, they must be run manually, as described in the install instructions.

Reported: 2021-07-13 by Jirapatnakul and Yip.

Issue 21-046: Long text (say 300 words or so) put into the change log field causes an M error.

Solution: Upgraded to handle about 6,000 characters or so in text box (tested with the opening of Tolstoy’s War and Peace).

Reported: 2021-04-16 by Jirapatnakul.

Issues 21-074 and 21-107: The Reason for Change block of fields were only appearing when the patient was set to active. When changed to inactive, the block disappeared, even though the same fields apply then. This led to a 2021-05-17 request by Henschke and Jirapatnakul to add four fields related to the reason for the change. When DiNatale figured out that the request overlapped with the existing but hidden fields, the group agreed for now to just fix the bug with the disappearing fields.

Solution: The form was changed to show the block of fields even when the patient is set to inactive.

Reported: 2021-05-17 by Jirapatnakul. 2021-06-15 by DiNatale.

Issue 21-112: The Active/Inactive field is required, but initially it was not, which led to the creation of some patients added to the current database with this field set neither way. How should such patients by treated? This affected the contents of the Inactive Report added in SAMI 18.11. The previous default behavior was that such ambiguous patients were not shown on the Inactive Report, even though based on the intent of that report they really should have been.

Solution: SAMI has been changed to treat ambiguous patients as inactive, to ensure they show up on the Inactive Report, so nurse navigators and VAPALS coordinators can clearly see they need followup action to resolve their status.

Reported: 2021-06-24 by Jirapatnakul.

Issue 21-114: Upon review of the solution to issue 21-112, the VAPALS-ELCAP research team agreed we still need to add two new fields to fully document the possible reasons for a participant becoming inactive specifically if they died, and if so, when.

Solution: New fields added.

Reported: 2021-07-07 by Yip.

Issue 21-108: The CT Appointment field label includes the asterisk that indicates it is a required field, but it is not and should not be.

Solution: Asterisk removed to avoid misleading users.

Reported: 2021-06-15 by DiNatale.

Issue 21-117: Inactive reason needs to be included in export of Intake form data.

Solution: The fix above to issue 21-127 fixes this problem.

Reported: 2021-07-09 by Jirapatnakul.

Issue 21-113: Intake forms that are not filled out (if the user goes to register a patient but doesn’t fill out anything) are not marked as incomplete. Intake forms should be incomplete by default.

Solution: Done.

Reported: 2021-06-24 by Jirapatnakul.

Issues 21-099 and 21-100: Remove lines in form that refer to the 8th edition modified Clinical TNM Status. The clinical team made this request. There were two references in the intervention form: one under treatment, one under Surgical Treatment.

Solution: Removed.

Reported: 2021-06-01 by Henschke.

Issues 21-097, 21-098 and 21-132: Several changes to the pulmonary function test items. That question, along with the results fields were moved towards the top of the Intervention form under Clinical staging based on. After the change, the Have you had a pulmonary function test? and No/Yes boxes are on one line with the FEV1 (L/s), FVC (L), and FEV1/FVC fields on their own line followed by Diffusion capacity on its own line. The FEV1/FVC field was added as an uncalculated percentage.

Solution: Lines moved; new field added. The pulmonary-function test line has been moved to under Clinical Staging, then the FEV1/FVC boxes on the following row, and then the diffusion capacity on the next row. However, in this version of the form the diffusion-capacity field disappears if the browser window gets too narrow, and we do not yet know why. This will have to be addressed in a future version.

Reported: 2021-06-01 by Henschke.

Issue 21-096: Under Surgical Treatment Information Was mediastinoscopy performed?, the next two lines should be shown only if Yes is selected. These lines are about the procedure.

Solution: Lines made conditional.

Reported: 2021-06-01 by Henschke.

Issue 21-095: Under Surgical Treatment, Resection, move line with, Was there a conversion of VATS to open? to be on a line by itself below the line with Extent of surgery. Add a free text box after this question titled Reason that is available no matter which answer is chosen.

Solution: Text box added; question moved.

Reported: 2021-06-01 by Henschke.

Issue 21-094: Under abnormalities, remove section titled Summary of Interventions. It is redundant.

Solution: Section removed.

Reported: 2021-06-01 by Henschke.

Issue 21-093: At top under Treatment, in Lesion Site dropdown, add a note that says, If multiple sites, select other and specify.

Solution: Note added.

Reported: 2021-06-01 by Henschke.

Issue 21-092: Under Treatment, when Radiation Therapy or Chemotherapy are selected in the Treatment Option drop down, change label of next box over to Treatment Start Date.

Solution: Done.

Reported: 2021-06-01 by Henschke.

Issue 21-106: Pathology tumor size: include additional field for length.

Solution: Field added.

Reported: 2021-06-10 by Jirapatnakul and Yip.

Issue 21-102: Add discharge data fields to Surgical Treatment section, add a field and reformat T Staging section, add Adenocarcinoma Histology section, reformatting of Evidence of Metastasis section.

Solution: Done.

Reported: 2021-06-10 by Jirapatnakul and Henschke.

Issue 21-091: Due to other changes in the Intervention form, the tab labeled Intervention and Follow-Up no longer had any intervention information in it.

Solution: Tab name changed.

Reported: ca. 2021-06-15 by DiNatale.

Issue 21-085: The Molecular Testing block of fields needs to be revised to better reflect the needed data.

Solution: Rename Other field to Other Tests; remove radio buttons no, negative and positive.

Reported: 2021-05-24 by Henschke and Jirapatnakul.

Issue 21-090: The fields in the Mediastinoscopy section are the same as the fields in the Biopsy section, which makes the form longer and more confusing than it needs to be. Mediastinoscopy should just be another type of procedure. Also, EBUS is missing from the list of procedures. Under Type of Procedure, when Biopsy Performed is checked yes, add options for mediastinoscopy and EBUS after Bronchoscopy. Remove Was a mediastinoscopy performed? and related section.

Solution: Done

Reported: 2021-06-01 by Henschke.

Issue 21-078: Form needs a new field Was a biopsy performed? with possible answers Yes, N or Cancel. Form also needs a Cancellation Reason text box. If biopsy cancelled, make all fields optional. If not, still show all the fields, and still make them optional.

Solution: Done.

Reported: 2021-05-18 by Jirapatnakul.

Issue 21-087: In the Hypertension block, the Systolic/Diastolic field was defined as numeric, with decimal requirements, which is not the correct format for this type of data.

Solution: The input transform for the field was changed from numeric to free text.

Reported: 2021-05-27 by Hanschke.

Issue 21-104: The Follow-up Dates field would not allow entry of past dates. This is a big problem for back-entering data about participants’ past activities.

Solution: The restriction was removed.

Reported: 2021-06-10 by Henschke and Jirapatnakul.

Issue 21-047: Only the first item of communication detail is being sent.

Solution: Handling of text boxes improved to send complete text.

Reported: 2021-04-22 by Murphy.

This step assumes you use a dzdo or sudo command to do this; here, the symbol $DEMAND will stand for whichever command you use. If your configuration is different, please adjust this step to match your configuration:

Create install and backup directories:

Back up existing form-fields and www files that will be overwritten by this install. Do this by copying the form-fields and www directories to the install backup directories:

At the Unix prompt, enter the M environment in direct mode, using the csession command on Caché or the mumps command on YottaDB/GT.M:

At the M prompt, call Vista’s direct-mode interface, enter your access code, and then just press return at the OPTION NAME prompt to return to direct mode. This sets up your authentication variables. Here’s a sample capture of this step:

Back up existing VAPALS-ELCAP routines that will be overwritten by this install. Do this by calling direct-mode interface ^%RO (routine out), selecting the list of routines to save, selecting sami-18.12.back.ro to save to, and answering any other additional prompts.

The prompts vary between M implementations, so be sure to follow the correct dialog for yours. The routine names to save are listed below under each implementation; copy the list and paste it at the Routine prompt. At the final Routine prompt, press return to indicate the list of routines is done.

To return to your normal account, exit the M environment.

You may safely download the archive file (sami-18.12.zip) in advance of the actual install. In the following text, [now] represents a time stamp representing your current time, [bits/sec] is a data rate and [time] is how long the file took to transfer (both of which vary based on the user’s network conditions).

Expand the archive file, using the Unix unzip command:

Select option 1 and press return at the Continue prompt.

Select option 6, enter the space bar at the INSTALL NAME prompt, and press return at the next three prompts. Note that [now] denotes the current time when you’re doing the install.

At the Select ... Option prompt, select the halt option, and at the M prompt enter the halt command.

At this point in the install process, the VAPALS-ELCAP routines have been updated, but the corresponding form-fields and www files have not; these must first be installed.

VA VAPALS-ELCAP sysadmins should follow the For VA VAPALS-ELCAP systems step. Non-VA sysadmins should follow the For Non-VA VAPALS-ELCAP systems step.

Both the VAPALS-ELCAP routines and www files have been updated at this point, but the routines are using cached copies of the form-fields and www files; this step refreshes those copies.