We are adding support for customers to send laboratory test results in structured numeric format via the HL7 API. Currently, if a laboratory test result includes a comparator (e.g. “<5”) it is treated as a text result and shows on the baseline of the test’s graph. By supporting structured numeric results, we can plot these on the graph on a numeric scale, thus making the graph more useful and clear for these results.
If PKB receives a laboratory test result in an HL7 ORU^R01 message where the data type in OBX-2 is SN (Structured Numeric) then:
- A datapoint will appear on the graph, at the numeric value specified, with an annotation to show the test result value.
- The range for the datapoint will show on the graph, if provided in OBX-7.
- The graph colour will show if a result is in or out of range.
- The result and range will also be in the details table below the graph.
For a transition period, PKB will continue to accept unstructured ranged results in an SN value (e.g. “<10” rather than “<^10”). Any occurrences will be logged and customers will be given the opportunity to fix their data before we deprecate support for this.
Results where OBX-2 is not SN will not be affected by these changes.
Further technical detail:
- To provide a ranged result, OBX-2 must be SN.
- OBX-5.1 must either be blank (“=” will be assumed), or else contain a supported comparator. Other valid SN data (e.g. ratios, ranges) will be silently ignored by PKB. The supported comparators are: =, <, <=, >, >=
- OBX-5.2 must contain a valid number.
- After the transition period, an error will be returned if SN is declared but the above criteria are not met.
Example message for result with SN data type: MSH|^~\&|Corepoint|TDL|HL7API|PKB|201303080949||ORU^R01|ABC0000000001|P|2.4 PID|||5555555555^^^NHS^NH||Smith^John^Joe^^Mr||19700101|M|||My flat name^1, The Road^London^London^SW1A 1AA^GBR|||||||||||||||||||N| OBR|1|12F000005|12F000005|BONE^Bone profile^WinPath||201805030948|201805030848||||||||SST|E85109||||||201303080949||CHE|F OBX|1|SN|VITDI^Vitamin D^Winpath||<^5|ng/mL|30-50||||F
During transition period, messages with unstructured ranged results will continue to show as a text result: MSH|^~\&|Corepoint|TDL|HL7API|PKB|201303080949||ORU^R01|ABC0000000001|P|2.4 PID|||5555555555^^^NHS^NH||Smith^John^Joe^^Mr||19700101|M|||My flat name^1, The Road^London^London^SW1A 1AA^GBR|||||||||||||||||||N| OBR|1|12F000005|12F000005|BONE^Bone profile^WinPath||201805030948|201805030848||||||||SST|E85109||||||201303080949||CHE|F OBX|1|SN|VITDI^Vitamin D^Winpath||<5|ng/mL|30-50||||F
More information will be in our HL7 API documentation when the feature is released this month. We welcome any feedback on these changes, please contact us with comments or queries.
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