Learning SQL has reminded me of learning pharmacokinetics for the first time. There’s a language, a structure, and certain rules that you can’t ignore if you want the right outcome.
In the early lessons, I’ve been experimenting with:
SELECTandWHEREto filter results (like narrowing down to patients with a specific diagnosis).- Sorting data by importance, similar to prioritizing which patients to review first.
- Joining tables, like connecting a drug’s dose with its corresponding lab values in one view.
Right now, these are just exercises with practice datasets. But in clinical terms, I can see how SQL could someday help me:
- Flag vancomycin patients without recent trough levels.
- Identify trends in readmissions related to medication issues.
- Automate parts of medication reconciliation checks.
It’s early, but this parallel to pharmacokinetics makes SQL less intimidating, and even a bit fun.