Use of CDA Observation.value

Jan 11, 2016

CDA has an all important element Observation.value:

Observation.value is a really important element because it contains the really key clinical data - laboratory and clinical measurement. It can be any type - any of the CDA types, that is - and it can repeat. So, two questions:

  • What types actually get used in Observation.value?
  • What about repeats - does that happen?

What types actually get used in Observation.value?

We’ve seen the following types get used in CDA Observation.value:

  • PQ + IVL_PQ
  • ST / SC
  • BL
  • INT
  • RTO (RTO_INT_INT for Titres and Trisomy / Down Syndrome risk assessment results)
  • CE / CD / CV
  • TS + IVL_TS (seeLOINC for IVL_TS usage)
  • CO
  • ED
  • SLIST_PQ

It’s not that other types aren’t allowed to be used, but these are the ones we’ve seen used; this list may help implementers to prioritise their work.

This type cannot be used: CS

Do repeats get used?

We’ve seen repeats used a few times, for things like Pulse Oximetry. We’ve never seen repeats where they have different types (to me, that sounds like a really bad idea - I think you should not do that).

Thanks to Rick Geimer, Alexander Henket, Diego Kaminker and Keith Boone for input to this one.