Eduardo J. Sanchez, M.D., M.P.H.
Commissioner of Health / 1100 West 49th Street
Austin, Texas 78756-3199

1-888-963-7111 / Nick Curry, M.D., M.P.H.
Executive Deputy Commissioner

Error and Flag Workgroup Meeting Minutes

April 29, 2004

TDH Main Campus (K-100)

9:00am – 12:00pm (EMS)

1:00pm – 5:00pm (Hospital)

I. Introduction – Carol Wright, Program Administrator, Trauma/EMS Registry

A. Meeting called to order, attendees reminded to sign-in and to pick-up handouts –

  • Handouts were “Online Reporting System – Errors and Warnings” for EMS firm and hospital and EMS/Hospital data dictionary

B. Introduction of Trauma Registry staff

  • EMS/Trauma Registry is now under a new manager, Linda Jones

C. Update on online reporting system

  • System is currently down for maintenance – system upgrades and testing of the expedited duplicate deletionprocess
  • System is expected to be back up the week of May 3, 2004, once all testing has been completed
  1. This is a brainstorming session designed to improve data coming into the system; trauma registry staff welcome suggestions.

II. Errors and Warnings–Overview of Process – Andy (Blum) Alegria, Trauma Registry Specialist

  1. Explanation of the difference between an error and a warning
  • The system will still accept records even if there are warnings. An error will cause the system to reject the record, even one error.
  • A warning is meant to improve data quality, it’s a validation check.
  • We can add, change, reword, and/or delete errors and warnings.

B. This is the second meeting in this review process, first meeting was held in January

23, 2004. We thank those who attended; meeting minutes are posted on our website

at Additional

meetings will be held as needed.

  1. EMS/Trauma Registry must maintain balance between meeting the needs of the experienced user versus the inexperienced user

III. Review of Data Elements Using Handout “Online Reporting System – Errors and

Warnings” – Andy (Blum) Alegria

  1. Group reviewed each data element starting at “DEPART_SCENE_TIME” for EMS,

and “CONDITION_ON_DISCHARGE” for hospital

  1. Premises that were decided upon at the last (for hospitals)meeting:
  • On a required field, if the user enters bad or invalid data, he/she should receive an error, as long as the user can enter “unknown” or “99999”
  • If an entry is allowable in the data dictionary, users should not receive a warning if they enter “unknown” or “99999.” If they enter “unknown” or “99999,” it means they truly do not know, or don’t want the state to have that information.
  • The system should accept what is outlined in the data dictionary.
  • Users should not receive warnings on optional fields
  1. It was determined that some data elements needed to be discussed more in-depth; a separate meeting to discuss the data dictionary was suggested
  • Data dictionary meeting to be held after Error and Warning Workgroup Meetings are completed
  • There will be separate meetings to discuss the EMS data dictionary, and hospital data dictionary
  • Those data elements needing discussion in the data dictionary meeting were marked

IV. Recommendations– All

  1. Group went through handout “Online Reporting System – Errors and Warnings” and

looked at each data element (field)

  • For hospital, the group finished
  • For EMS, group ended at “INJURY_CAUSE_ID”

V. Issues That Were discussed – All

A. Concern as to why the state needs patient identifiers like “Patient_Last_Name” and

other personal identifiers

  • Response: useful for linking, “Patient_Last_Name” is required for EMS, not hospital-data dictionary issue

B. Data Quality

  • the importance of having good data - we’re not able to calculate certain statistics if the field is not filled-in, for example, age depends on date of birth
  • the consequences of leaving “optional fields” blank- we’re not able to do epidemiological studies or conduct research if those fields are not reported

VI. Conclusion

  1. EMS group would like a full eight-hour day devoted to EMS error flag discussion
  2. Hospital is ready to move-on to the data dictionary review
  3. Minutes from these meetings will be posted on the trauma registry website
  4. Next meeting will be scheduled for late June, early July
  5. E-mail will be sent on the listserv with possible meeting dates
  6. Participants will vote on which day they prefer
  7. Tentative meeting dates July 7, 2004 – July 8, 2004

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