How Post Coordination Can Improve Access to Clinical Data

​Clinical Architecture's In-Booth Data Quality Theater - Booth #1349

​Putting too much meaning into a code used to represent patient data can sometimes make it more difficult to find and use the data. For example, the LOINC code 8460-8 means a “systolic blood pressure measured with the patient in the standing position”. There are over 100 similar LOINC codes for systolic blood pressure that vary by patient position, level of exercise, body location where the measurement was made, and measurement method/device. The use of these pre coordinated codes in patient data means that if you are trying to find all systolic blood pressures for a patient, you will need to search for any code in a list of 100+ codes. The alternative is to use the more general LOINC code 8480-6 which just means “systolic blood pressure measurement”, and store the other important information in separate fields in the data representation. This second approach is commonly called a post coordinated representation. The team at Regenstrief is working to make any LOINC codes that are needed to enable more frequent use of post coordination for the storage of patient data.

​Speakers

​Moderator

​Shaun Shakib, MPH, PhD, FAMIA, Chief Informatics Officer, Clinical Architecture