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Data Element Detail

Elective surgery waiting list episode-clinical urgency assessment category
Identifying and Definitional Attributes
QH 040087 v2
Data Element
Data Element
Draft
12-Jun-2014		Current
04-Aug-2014		Superseded
29-Jan-2018
Standard
01-Jul-2014
30-Jun-2015
A clinical assessment of the urgency with which a patient requires elective hospital care.
Elective surgery/Waiting list
Urgency category
Waiting list and urgency category (HBCIS); Urgency category (QHAPDC)
Representational Attributes
Numeric
Code
N
1
1
Permissible Values

Permissible_values

CodeDescription
1Elective surgery - category 1
2Elective surgery - category 2
3Elective surgery - category 3
Supplementary Values

Supplemenary_values

-
Collection and Usage Attributes
The classification employs a system of urgency categorisation based on factors such as the degree of pain, dysfunction and disability caused by the condition and its potential to deteriorate quickly into an emergency. All patients ready for care must be assigned to one of the urgency categories, regardless of how long it is estimated they will need to wait for surgery.

Code 1 Elective surgery - category 1
Admission within 30 days desirable for a condition that has the potential to deteriorate quickly to the point that it may become an emergency.

Code 2 Elective surgery - category 2
Admission within 90 days desirable for a condition causing some pain, dysfunction or disability but which is not likely to deteriorate quickly or become an emergency.

Code 3 Elective surgery - category 3
Admission at some time in the future acceptable for a condition causing minimal or no pain, dysfunction or disability, which is unlikely to deteriorate quickly and which does not have the potential to become an emergency.
For national reporting of the Elective surgery waiting list episode-clinical urgency data element the following mapping occurs:
Code 1 Elective surgery - category 1 is mapped to code 1 Admission within 30 days desirable for a condition that has the potential to deteriorate quickly to the point that it may become an emergency.
Code 2 Elective surgery - category 2 is mapped to code 2 Admission within 90 days desirable for a condition causing some pain, dysfunction or disability but which is not likely to deteriorate quickly or become an emergency.
Code 3 Elective surgery - category 3 is mapped to code 3 Admission at some time in the future acceptable for a condition causing minimal or no pain, dysfunction or disability, which is unlikely to deteriorate quickly and which does not have the potential to become an emergency.
A patient's classification may change if he or she undergoes clinical review during the waiting period. The need for clinical review varies with the patient's condition and is therefore at the discretion of the treating clinician.

Categorisation of waiting list patients by clinical urgency assists hospital management and clinicians in the prioritisation of their workloads. It gives health consumers a reasonable estimate of the maximum time they should expect to wait for care. Clinical urgency classification allows a meaningful measure of system performance to be calculated, namely the number or proportion of patients who wait for times in excess of the maximum desirable time limit for their urgency category (metadata item the overdue patient status).
Relational Attributes
Related Metadata References

Related Metadata References_IR

  • 1 - 5
ViewRelationshipMetadata Item TypeMetadata Item SubtypeNameIdentifier & VersionApproval Status
SupersedesData ElementData ElementUrgency categoryQH 040087 Version 1Superseded
Has been superseded byData ElementData ElementElective surgery waiting list episode-clinical urgency assessment categoryQH 040087 Version 3Superseded
Is used in conjunction withData ElementData ElementElective care waiting list episode-listing date for careQH 040359 Version 3Current
Relates toData ElementData ElementElective procedure waiting list episode-clinical urgency assessment category reassignment dateQH 041720 Version 1Superseded
Relates toData ElementData Element ConceptElective surgery waiting list episodeQH 041716 Version 1Current
Implementation in Metadata Sets

Implemented

  • 1 - 2
ViewMetadata Item TypeMetadata Item SubtypeNameIdentifer & VersionObligationApproval StatusEffective FromEffective To
Information AssetData CollectionElective Surgery Data Collection (ESDC)QH 020110 Version 1MandatorySuperseded01-Jul-201430-Jun-2015
Information AssetData CollectionQueensland Hospital Admitted Patient Data Collection (QHAPDC)QH 020001 Version 1MandatorySuperseded01-Jul-201430-Jun-2015
Source and Reference Attributes
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare
METeOR data element: Elective surgery waiting list episode-clinical urgency, code N, Identifier 270008, Health standard 01/03/2005 https://meteor.aihw.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/270008/meteorItemView/long
Clinical urgency category; Elective surgery; Urgency category; Waiting list;