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The OBSERVATION_FACT table has six columns associated with values. This section contains additional information about each of these columns that contain value related data.

OBSERVATION_FACT Value Columns

 

 

 

 

 

VALTYPE_CD

TVAL_CHAR

NVAL_NUM

VALUEFLAG_CD

UNITS_CD

OBS_BLOB

N

E (equal)
NE (not equal)
L (less than)
LE (less than and equal to)
G (greater than)
GE (greater than and equal to)

Actual numeric value of object

H (high)
L (low)
N (normal)
<ac:structured-macro ac:name="unmigrated-wiki-markup" ac:schema-version="1" ac:macro-id="d4d2ee95-d4e9-4b5e-a7a2-d5410ffed26c"><ac:plain-text-body><![CDATA[[null] (unknown)

Units associated with object

Misc. encrypted information

]]></ac:plain-text-body></ac:structured-macro>

T

Actual short text value of object

N/A

A (abnormal)
N (normal)
<ac:structured-macro ac:name="unmigrated-wiki-markup" ac:schema-version="1" ac:macro-id="3dfddd59-85cd-42a1-aaa0-4641624ac9a5"><ac:plain-text-body><![CDATA[[null] (unknown)

Units associated with object

Misc. encrypted information

]]></ac:plain-text-body></ac:structured-macro>

B

N/A

N/A

X (encrypted)

N/A

Raw text

NLP

N/A

N/A

X (encrypted)

N/A

NLP result XML



VALTYPE_CD Column

The VALTYPE_CD defines what type of object is being stored in the remaining value columns. The possible values are:

Value

Description

@

No value

N

Numeric objects such as those found in lab tests

T

Text objects such as labels, short message, enumerated values

B

Raw text objects such as a doctor's note, discharge summary, and radiology report

NLP

NLP result xml objects



TVAL_CHAR Column

The TVAL_CHAR column is used in conjunction with the VALTYPE_CD column. The information stored in the TVAL_CHAR column is dependent on what the VALTYPE_CD is for the object.
VALTYPE_CD = "T"

  • The text value associated with the CONCEPT_CD is stored.



VALTYPE_CD = "N"

  • If an operator is associated with the numeric value then it is stored in the VALTYPE_CD.


The operators are:

Operator

Description

E

Equal

NE

Not equal

L

Less than

LE

Less than and Equal to

G

Greater than

GE

Greater than and Equal to



NVAL_NUM Column

If the VALTYPE_CD = "N" then the actual numeric value associated with the CONCEPT_CD is stored in the NVAL_NUM.

VALUEFLAG_CD Column

The VALUEFLAG_CD column is for storing flags associated with an object. It is usually seen used with a lab object to indicate that a lab value is high or low. It may also be used in conjunction with VALTYPE_CD = "B" or "NLP" to indicate encrypted data in the OBSERVATION_BLOB column.
The possible values are:

Value

Description

@

No value

A

Abnormal

H

High

L

Low

X

Blob column is encrypted



UNITS_CD Column

The UNITS_CD column stores the units associated with the object, such as mmol/l. It is usually used for lab test values.

OBSERVATION_BLOB Column

The OBSERVATION_BLOB column stores large text objects such as raw text (B) or NLP results (NLP). For these types of objects, the VALUEFLAG_CD indicates whether or not the data is encrypted. Other objects (numeric or short text) may store miscellaneous information about the object. For these objects (N, T) the data in this field defaults to encrypted.

  • No labels

1 Comment

  1. In the section "TVAL_CHAR column" it says

    VALTYPE_CD = "N"

    • If an operator is associated with the numeric value then it is stored in the VALTYPE_CD.

    I believe it should say "...it is stored in the TVAL_CHAR."


    A little further down, it should say:

    "less than or equal to" instead of "less than and equal to"
    and
    "greater than or equal to" instead of "greater than and equal to"


    In the section for "VALUEFLAG_CD column", the entry for "N | Normal" is missing from the table.


    Wonderful wiki and wonderful page.  Thank you!  I hope this proves helpful.