Table 1.
Some of the Original Data Fields Requested from Hospital Pharmacies by the Private Research Firm
| Data Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Diagnostic data | |
| Diagnosis code | Primary condition that caused the patient to be registered (not the same as the “.Primary Problem.” field in NACRS) |
| Diagnosis code version | ICD version of the diagnosis code (ICD-8, ICD-9, ICD-9CM, ICD-10) |
| Summary stage level | Summary cancer stage level, based on clinical and pathological stage values (for cancer patients only) |
| Data regarding hospital stay | |
| Patient’s age | Patient’s age (in years) |
| Patient’s sex | Patient’s sex |
| Patient’s FSA | Patient’s FSA |
| Admission date | Date on which the patient visited or was admitted to the facility |
| Discharge date | Date on which patient was discharged |
| Service cost centre | Medical or surgical service or clinic for cost assignments |
| Data regarding drug therapy | |
| Drug description | Text-based description of the product, as labelled for use |
| Drug code | Health Canada Drug Identification Number (DIN), if available |
| Dose transaction date | Date of this drug delivery event (equal to scheduled start date) |
| Dose administered | Actual dose administered during this visit |
| Measurement unit | Units of measurement for numeric dose given |
| Instructions for administration | Doses per day, if applicable; PRN, if not scheduled; dose, route, number of tablets; other specific instructions |
| Schedule | bid, tid, etc. (default: qd) |
| Route | Route to administer this drug (e.g., intravenous) |
| Transaction items | Number of items dispensed (should be a multiple of transaction doses) |
| Transaction doses | Number of doses dispensed |
| Transaction cost | Total cost of dispensed items |
| Dose cost | Cost per dose as prescribed (optional or calculated from transaction cost/transaction doses) |
| Days supplied | Number of 24-h periods of drug use supplied (i.e., unit dose = 1); if not provided, this is calculated from schedule and doses |
| Regimen | For cancer therapies and other therapies where concomitant and coordinated use is determined by defined regimens |
| Scheduled stop date | Scheduled stop order date |
| Actual stop date | Actual date of discontinuation; may be calculated from doses supplied if not renewed or refilled |
| Therapeutic intent | Reason for use, explicit or implicit (optional) |
| Location | Facility ward or department where drug was administered |
| Service cost centre | Medical or surgical service or clinic for cost assignments; may be same as facility admitting service above |
| Prescriber group | Facility-specific grouping code, if different from cost centre (optional; for future use) |
FSA = forward sortation area (a geographic region designated by Canada Post, in which all postal codes start with the same 3 characters), ICD = International Classification of Diseases (8th, 9th, or 10th revision), NACRS = National Ambulatory Care Reporting System, PRN = as required.