Generic Module Framework

Synthea contains a framework for defining modules using JSON. These JSON modules describe a progression of states and the transitions between them. On each Synthea generation time-step, the generic framework processes states one at a time to trigger conditions, encounters, medications, and other clinical events.

This simplified example of childhood ear infections shows the flow of a generic module. In this instance, children get ear infections at different rates based on their age, are then diagnosed at an encounter, and then are prescribed either an antibiotic or a painkiller.

Future plans for the generic module framework include a web interface to allow clinicians or other healthcare professionals to design Synthea modules with no programming experience required.

Details and examples for these concepts are available on the following pages:

States

Transitions

Logic

Logging

Complete Module Example: Examplitis

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Relevant Files and Paths

Within the synthea repository, the following files and paths are relevant to the generic module framework:

• lib/generic/modules/: the path containing the JSON module files that Synthea should process
• lib/generic/context.rb: the Context class definition; responsible for maintaining a module's state definition, state history, and current state for each patient. The Context class also processes states and transitions.
• lib/generic/logic.rb: the Logic module implements the methods corresponding to the supported logical condition types
• lib/generic/states.rb: the States module implements the supported state types
• modules/generic.rb: the Generic module defines the Synthea rule that is executed on every time-step. It loops through the modules in lib/generic/modules/, setting up and running the context for each module.
• test/fixtures/generic/*.json: the test fixtures for all of the generic module framework unit tests
• test/generic_*_test.rb: the unit tests for the generic module framework's context, logic, and state implementations