Hide / Delete Session Data Feature Request

[SleepyTimeTime]

Last night, my AirSense 10 turned on when I went to bed. About 13 minutes later I thought "I wonder if I put the SD Card back in the machine?" so I took off the mask. The card was in the machine, so I put the mask back on. As a result, I got two sessions last night and I want to delete the first one.

I found in post "SH: Delete Session macOS?" (03-03-2019, 04:45 PM) that I cannot delete sessions but I CAN hide them. I hid the session I don't want and found that the presented and exported statistics are adjusted accordingly.

HOWEVER, I also found that when I quit OSCAR and restart it, it does not remember that I've hidden/excluded a session. By default all sessions are included in the waveforms, statistics, and exported data.

It would be great to have a Preference setting so that OSCAR would remember which sessions I've excluded and to exclude those on the next restart of OSCAR. Perhaps a master scrolling list of all sessions with the on/off switch for each session?

[Osiris357]

I’m with you on that. When I’m looking over my data I shut off the sessions I know I was wake during if there was events flagged during that time. Most don’t care if that skews their statistics but for those of us that do it it is a thorn lol.

[GuyScharf]

Last night, my AirSense 10 turned on when I went to bed. About 13 minutes later I thought "I wonder if I put the SD Card back in the machine?" so I took off the mask. The card was in the machine, so I put the mask back on. As a result, I got two sessions last night and I want to delete the first one.

I found in post "SH: Delete Session macOS?" (03-03-2019, 04:45 PM) that I cannot delete sessions but I CAN hide them. I hid the session I don't want and found that the presented and exported statistics are adjusted accordingly.

HOWEVER, I also found that when I quit OSCAR and restart it, it does not remember that I've hidden/excluded a session. By default all sessions are included in the waveforms, statistics, and exported data.

In the next release of OSCAR, the hidden flag for a session will be remembered.  So if you decide to hide a session, it will still be hidden the next time you start OSCAR.

[mjphyi]

In the next release of OSCAR, the hidden flag for a session will be remembered.  So if you decide to hide a session, it will still be hidden the next time you start OSCAR.

I see the convenience of that from the user's point of view, but I can also see that it could be detrimental to the credibility of OSCAR if users can modify their results by hiding sessions that skew results. Fortunately, I don't have to make decisions like that. 

Michael

[Gideon]

In the next release of OSCAR, the hidden flag for a session will be remembered.  So if you decide to hide a session, it will still be hidden the next time you start OSCAR.

I see the convenience of that from the user's point of view, but I can also see that it could be detrimental to the credibility of OSCAR if users can modify their results by hiding sessions that skew results. Fortunately, I don't have to make decisions like that. 

Michael

Michael, what is your background?  I have wondered if you are a doctor.  PM me if you don't want to publicly state those details.

[mjphyi]

In the next release of OSCAR, the hidden flag for a session will be remembered.  So if you decide to hide a session, it will still be hidden the next time you start OSCAR.

I see the convenience of that from the user's point of view, but I can also see that it could be detrimental to the credibility of OSCAR if users can modify their results by hiding sessions that skew results. Fortunately, I don't have to make decisions like that. 

Michael

Michael, what is your background?  I have wondered if you are a doctor.  PM me if you don't want to publicly state those details.

Hi Fred, I don't know if it's good or bad that you think I might be a doctor. Although both my parents were doctors, and I did consider it, I am in fact a retired engineer. I hope you're not offended by my observation; I did assume that you didn't take that decision lightly.

And as this is the second time you've invited me to PM you, I'll do that over the weekend.

Michael

[Gideon]

Engineer explains it. It was the Bastardized physician I saw in your user name and your reaction to the "hiding" of data possibly skewing results that made me think Doc. And I am NOT offended. One big difference between the previous product and OSCAR is that we relish critical comments, as long as they are about the product and how to possibly improve OSCAR. Our users have suggested many of the improvements that have or will be implemented.

[SleepyTimeTime]

Michael...you wrote "if users can modify their results by hiding sessions that skew results"

Aren't most users of OSCAR lay people who are using CPAP to get a better understanding of what's going on with their treatment and want to get honest answers? Why would a user hide sessions to get better results? You can't fool yourself.

It's kind of like cheating in school. Sure, you can cheat and get a better grade, but who are you fooling?

There are legitimate use-cases such as the one I described where I went to bed for 15 minutes and had to get up to attend to something I'd forgotten. There's no point keeping that 15 minute session.

I'd prefer to be able delete that entire session because it wasn't valid at all. But hiding it from the results is the next-best solution.

The SnoreLab tool allows the user to set an initial time period where it doesn't record snoring. In other words, it doesn't record during the time it typically takes you to fall asleep. Such a feature could be useful feature in OSCAR, too. You could set OSCAR to begin analyzing the data and calculating statistics at some interval after you start your CPAP and get your first reading.

[SuperSleeper]

I think his thought was that if OSCAR data or charts could be manipulated in any way by the end-user (patient) to show a less-than-honest report of data (able to make it look like the therapy was working better than it actually did or that compliance was greater than it actually was), then this would be a deterrent to medical professionals taking OSCAR seriously. 

For some professions (truck drivers, pilots, heavy equipment operators etc), sleep apnea patients must provide proof that their sleep apnea is being adequately treated.  Many health care professions will only accept reports made by proprietary software, such as ResScan or EncorePro, but increasingly, we've heard from a few members that health care professionals had accepted an OSCAR report at least for compliance purposes.

OSCAR needs to accurately represent the true numbers, in other words, and there should be no functionality in the software which might enable a user to "manipulate" the data itself or make a "fraudulent chart" that creates a false portrayal of what's really happening.

At least that's what I think he was talking about.

[mjphyi]

I think his thought was that if OSCAR data or charts could be manipulated in any way by the end-user (patient) to show a less-than-honest report of data (able to make it look like the therapy was working better than it actually did or that compliance was greater than it actually was), then this would be a deterrent to medical professionals taking OSCAR seriously. 

For some professions (truck drivers, pilots, heavy equipment operators etc), sleep apnea patients must provide proof that their sleep apnea is being adequately treated.  Many health care professions will only accept reports made by proprietary software, such as ResScan or EncorePro, but increasingly, we've heard from a few members that health care professionals had accepted an OSCAR report at least for compliance purposes.

OSCAR needs to accurately represent the true numbers, in other words, and there should be no functionality in the software which might enable a user to "manipulate" the data itself or make a "fraudulent chart" that creates a false portrayal of what's really happening.

At least that's what I think he was talking about.

That's indeed what I was thinking of. I see many times on this forum, usually from people I take to be on the "development team", sentiments to the effect of "Oscar reports only the data which your CPAP machine outputs, we do not interpret it". For a piece of software that is NOT from a manufacturer, and who want to avoid being seen as "basement scammers" (to quote a recent post), I think this is a good position to take.

But as I said, I see both sides, and as a retiree, I am glad to be out of the process of these hard decisions, trivial though they might appear.

To more directly answer SleepyTimeTime, he declares "There are legitimate use-cases such as the one I described where I went to bed for 15 minutes and had to get up to attend to something I'd forgotten. There's no point keeping that 15 minute session." To which I would answer that the "point" strongly depends on what is contained in the session he wishes to hide.

And while you can't fool yourself, someone may use this facility to try to fool someone else. And if it's a "lay person" that does it, then it would be the program's fault.

Michael