http://hdl.handle.net/10222/14665 2013-05-23T00:00:43Z http://hdl.handle.net/10222/15967 Crosswalk: Mapping ICD-9 to ICD-10 Randhawa, Ravin The International Classification of Diseases (ICD) is a comprehensive list of codes for medical diagnoses and procedures that is generated by the World Health Organization. It is the standard by which global health information is mandated to be captured. It defines the universe of diseases, disorders, injuries and other related health conditions. Currently, ICD revision 10 (ICD-10) is the gold standard. Although ICD-10 was defined in 1990, implementing it was and is a non-trivial issue. It is an issue that will always exist when traversing to new revisions for the codes. As new revisions are introduced, the granularity of the information captured increases. Entities using the codes are tasked at updating processes and applications, a process that can take many years. A larger problem exits. As new revisions are introduced, the granularity of the codes captured increases. As an example, ICD-9 comprises of approximately 17,000 codes whereas ICD-10 comprises of approximately 141,000 codes. There are many translators available for mapping ICD-9 Codes to ICD-10 codes and vise-verse. This paper restricts the scope of the discussion surrounding mapping ICD-9 to ICD-10 to the General Equivalence Mappings (GEM) developed by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) in conjunction with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the American Hospital Association and 3M Health Information Systems. The author’s primary function as an analyst at the Population Health Research Unit (PHRU), Dalhousie University was extracting patient data from various databases housed and maintained at the PHRU repository. The author extracted data based on specifications provided by PHRU’s Business Analysts, as well as after discussion with clients. Paramount to any extraction of data was a basic understanding of the area of research and documenting deliverables. In meeting these requirements, the author encountered issues when working with data held at PHRU. The issues are not unique to PHRU. It is universal. Data captured in the PHRU databases prior to the year 2000 is in ICD-9 codes. Post 2000, the data captured uses ICD-10 codes. The author suggests that the mapping of ICD-9 codes to ICD-10 codes is not trivial. Crosswalk files are used in mapping one revision of the ICD codes to another revision. Internship report - fall/winter 2012 2013-02-11T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10222/15499 Development of a Database Driven Web Application: Health and Wellness in My Family Singla, Saryu The scope of the project revolved around the development of an online inventory tool which would help Issak Walton Killam (IWK) Health Centre understand the health of the community in a better way. The scope also involved informing community members about the health of their family. IWK Primary Health is making an effort to provide families with better programs to improve the health status in the various communities. The inventory tool will help the IWK analyze data to be used to build better programs for the future to help families in the community. Online surveys are conducted due to their various advantages like higher response rates, time and cost effectiveness, easy data collection etc. But they do have their limitations associated with them. They might have security and confidentiality issues related to them. People might not have easy access to internet etc. Keeping all the advantages and disadvantages in mind, the IWK Primary Health in collaboration with IWK Research Services built the questionnaire for an online survey- Health and Wellness in My Family. The team members had already developed the set of questions which the author had to transfer to the web server by the use of programming language like PHP and MySQL. The objective of building the survey application was that a score (red, yellow or green) is available immediately to the user after the completion of the survey. This would help them familiarize with the areas that are yellow and red in color and needs attention. Also, aggregate data could be accessed by the bigger workgroup about who has completed the tool and how they have responded (number of people, top red yellow green scores, relation of demographic data with other sections etc.). The application to provide data in .csv format so that it can be exported to SPSS for further research. Internship report - Summer 2012 2012-09-11T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10222/15498 Patient Analysis and Tracking System for Mental Health and Addictions Program - Project PATS Requirement Determination Singh, Navjot Patient tracking is a key feature in efficient management of healthcare delivery process. Owing to the global impact of recession these are challenging times for hospitals in terms of not only managing the ever increasing patient demands but also with reduced capabilities of addition in physical capacity. Improving fragmented patient flow processes, incorporating cost effective technological innovations and further refining the processes with understanding of technology benefits are among the various methods employed to provide safe and efficient patient care. Project PATS is a focused effort for IWK’s Mental Health Department to track the patients’ journey through its program and thereby identify areas of improvement in patient flow process with a view to reduce wait times and make it efficient. Building such a database has its challenges that transcend people, process and technology. IWK’s Mental Health Department is presently in the midst of reorganizing its services as its moves along in its Process Improvement journey. Modifying processes, updating input forms and re- defining user tasks are at various stages of development. Add to it the technology constraints of MEDITECH, such challenges call for a customized approach to problem solving with a buy in from all stakeholders. Internship report - Summer 2012 2012-09-11T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10222/15497 Development of a Clinical Rounds Module Under the CAISIS Platform Shawli, Maher This paper presents and documents tasks and research performed during the author’s Master of Health Informatics internship at the Diagnostic Radiology Department in collaboration with the Nova Scotia Breast Screening Program (NSBSP) in 2012. The NSBSP aims to reduce female morbidity and mortality from breast cancer. To help accomplish this goal, the NSBSP has adopted a new open-source application to enhance the capturing, storing, and accessing of data. The main objective of this internship was to help the NSBSP facilitate the case review process (Mammography Round) by creating a Round module on a CAISIS platform. Mammography Rounds are conducted regularly to ensure the integrity of the diagnosis prior to treatment. The main objective of the research was achieved within the set schedule. The author was also assigned to provide an appropriate solution to exchange pathology data between CAISIS and CERNER MILLENNIUM. The author proposed using HL7 and DICOM to facilitate data exchange between CAISIS and the Legacy systems, but the solution was not accepted due to limited funding. The author then proposed a second solution using JAVA, which was accepted, and hence sending pathology data from CAISIS to CERNER MILLENNIUM was achieved. In this paper, the author provides an in-depth analysis of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the proposed solution via a SWOT analysis. At the conclusion of the paper, the author provides some recommendations that could be used to improve cancer data capture and exchange. These recommendations include:  Using HL7 to create interoperability between CAISIS and the Legacy systems.  Improving the sharing of Pathology images by adapting the use of a PACS system.  Creating a Pathology synoptic report to increase report quality, reduce typographic errors, and increase productivity and overall cancer data quality. In this internship, most of the tasks were achieved by applying what the author learned in the Master of Health Informatics courses. Internship report - Summer 2012 2012-09-11T00:00:00Z