Vendor Tracking ID
A vendor Tracking ID is one of the specific examples of data elements used in a medical setting for the pre-requisite information that is used to define and format the data elements and validation values. Patient-level data can be processed accordingly in a health facility. Information entered into a database can be retrieved from a hospital’s information system by entering a unique ID number. Several elements can be collected upon admission of a patient and applies across all patients in a hospital setting. Some are general while others are specific. The elements, according to Specifications Manual for Joint Commission National Quality Core Measures (2010A1) (2010, p.1) include a specific value of a Vendor Tracking ID. One attribute of an ID number is its uniqueness. Upon registration, a patient is issued with the ID number whose attribute is unique. The number uniquely identifies the patient. When a hospital’s information system is queried by entering the unique number, the system retrieves all patient records and presents that information in a form.
Data integrity is ensured through validation and verification mechanisms. The ID number is specific to a specific patient. In addition, other information included in the form used to capture data about the patient include age with the attribute N[NN], date of birth attributed as N, admission date, age range [NN]. This coding ensures data integrity when populating a patient’s table during admission or treatment.
The Data Validation (2010, p.1) indicates that No indicator is required as this number ID number is unique. A flag should be used as an additional measure for ensuring data and information integrity. This ID number can not be converted to any other format and all the required fields should be cross-checked, the use of “_” should be correct to allow a specific number of digits, and validation rules should be adhered to according to the (Specifications Manual for Joint Commission National Quality Core Measures (2010A2), 2010, p.2).
Age
The age of a patient forms another specific example of a data element. Age is not a unique element but a general element common to all other patients. It is uniquely identified with the N [NN] attribute. The age can be converted to a DD/MM/YYYY data format.
The data element contains positional fields (DD/MM/YYY) of the reported date.
A designates accurate day, month, and year entries, E designates an estimated entry, and U designates an unknown and estimated value. Each of the data elements must be valid and invalid data should be identified through invalidation components. Validation will be based on the data type, data length, and the frequency of a data item according to the (Table of National health Data Dictionary Version 13.3 data elements listed by short Name, n.d, p.34).
Veteran Status Code
One medical data element not included in NHDD is the veteran status code. These are inpatient records provided on a data file summary whose attributes include veteran status definition, and the Domain name code. According to the Inpatient Hospital Discharge Database Documentation Manual (2006, p.1), the status code is a unique identifier assigned digits 1 to 4 and defines inclusion or exclusion in the military service identified by a string of characters. These characters include NO for those that have not been active in the military in less than six months. The field name is VESTA CODE and the data element name is Veteran status code. The value domain is *VESTA CODE, the veteran status definition, the value domain include representation time for service with the character data type, and whose format is of the form hhmm, and length specified as 3 (National Health Data Dictionary (NHDD) Version 13.3, n.d, p.1).
References
Data Validation. (2010). Web.
Inpatient Hospital Discharge Database Documentation Manual. (2006). Division of Health Care Finance Policy. Web.
National Health Data Dictionary (NHDD) Version 13.3(n.d). Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Web.
Specifications Manual for Joint Commission National Quality Core Measures (2010A2).(2010). Data Dictionary Introduction. Web.
Table of National health Data Dictionary Version 13.3 data elements listed by short Name. (n.d). Web.