SQL functions like COUNT(), SUM(), AVG(), MIN(), and MAX() allow you to summarize and calculate data directly in your queries. Example: This counts patients on warfarin. đź’ˇ Future clinical idea: Use AVG() to calculate the average length of stay for patients on a specific antibiotic regimen to track stewardship outcomes.
Tag: SQL
Set Operators
Set operators: UNION, INTERSECT, and EXCEPT, help combine or compare query results. Example: This merges patients from both lists. đź’ˇ Future clinical idea: Use INTERSECT to identify patients who are both in a high-risk med list and have a recent adverse event record.
SQL Joins Advanced
Beyond INNER JOIN, SQL also has LEFT, RIGHT, and FULL joins. These can bring in unmatched rows, letting you see what’s missing. LEFT JOIN retrieves all records from the left table and the matched records from the right table, while RIGHT JOIN does the opposite, fetching all records from the right table along with matched…
SQL Joins Basics
The INNER JOIN lets you combine related data from multiple tables. It’s a core SQL concept for connecting information. By using INNER JOIN, you ensure that only the records with matching values in both tables are retrieved, which helps maintain data integrity and relevance. For those looking to deepen their understanding of database interactions, sql…
Filtering Data in SQL
One of the first essential skills in SQL is filtering data with the WHERE clause. It’s how you narrow your results to exactly what you need. Example: This query shows only patients older than 65. In the future, I could use this approach to quickly find all geriatric patients on a high-risk medication to support…
Filtering Data with WHERE Clauses in SQL
As part of my SQL learning journey, I’ve reached one of the most practical topics so far: filtering data using the WHERE clause. This is where SQL starts feeling useful for real-world applications, even for clinicians like myself. The WHERE clause lets you pull only the data that meets certain conditions. This means you can…
From SQL Basics to Future Clinical Projects
Right now, my SQL skills are at the basics: selecting, filtering, and joining data. But I’m already thinking ahead to what small, portfolio-friendly projects could look like. Some ideas for later: These are future goals, not current work. However, learning SQL now lays the foundation. It’s a lot like starting a new clinical specialty: you…
Small Wins: My First SQL Query That Made Sense
Today, I ran my first SQL query that made complete sense. It wasn’t fancy, just selecting a few columns from a dataset and filtering for a certain value, but it worked exactly as intended. That little “yes!” moment reminded me of when a patient’s INR finally comes into range after days of adjustments. Right now,…
Thinking in Tables: How SQL Changes Perspective
One thing I didn’t expect when starting SQL was how much it would change the way I see data. As pharmacists, we’re used to patient charts, medication profiles, and lab reports; often presented as separate pieces. SQL forces you to think in tables and relationships: Learning about joins showed me how these pieces could be…
The SQL Learning Curve (and Why it Feels Like Pharmacokinetics)
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: Right now, these are just exercises with practice datasets. But in clinical terms, I can see how…