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Identifying and Definitional Attributes
QH 041687 v2
Data Element
Data Element
Draft
06-Mar-2015
Current
16-Sep-2015
Standard
01-Jul-2014
An abbreviation which uniquely identifies a facility in information systems.
Corporate Reference Data System (CRDS) facility
Facility name abbreviation
Representational Attributes
Character
Code
X(3)(X(3))
3
6
Permissible Values

Permissible_values

A valid standardised facility name abbreviation from the Corporate Reference Data System (CRDS) Facility data set maintained by Statistical Standards and Strategies, Statistical Services Branch (SSB).
Supplementary Values

Supplemenary_values

-
Collection and Usage Attributes
EXCLUSIONS AT IMPLEMENTATION:
- CRDS facility types for administrative recording or collection purposes, non-current facilities, and campus codes (e.g. T2).
- Abbreviations that are outside the scope of the CRDS facilities data set (i.e. clinical trials).

RULES FOR STANDARDISED FACILITY ABBREVIATIONS AT IMPLEMENTATION:

1. Abbreviations must be unique.

2. Abbreviation size must be between 3 and 6 characters.

3. Closed (non-active) facilities: Default to legacy AUSLAB abbreviation (mnemonic); in the absence of an AUSLAB mnemonic, default to legacy QRIS abbreviation.

4. Open (active) facilities: Default to AUSLAB abbreviation (mnemonic) provided there is 'in essence' alignment with the current name for the facility. Minor exceptions to this rule occur where consistency is gained.

Example 1
AUSLAB abbreviation (mnemonic) ARAH (current name Aramac Primary Healthcare Centre; previous name Aramac Hospital): ARAH retains the fundamental component of the current name.

Example 2
AUSLAB abbreviation (mnemonic) YEPH (current name Capricorn Coast Hospital and Health Service; previous name Yeppoon Hospital): YEPH does not retain the fundamental component of the current name.

5. Ignore leading 'The' in facility name with the exception of TPCH (The Prince Charles Hospital) & TTH (The Townsville Hospital).

6. Where the location part of an abbreviation is widely known within a legacy system such as AUSLAB, whenever possible, standardised abbreviations use the same characters to represent location.

For example, AUSLAB consistently uses RK for Rockhampton and this practice has generally been adopted for standardised abbreviations where Rockhampton forms part of the facility name.

7. When a service type, or facility type, forms part of the facility name the following suffixes are used:
- Abbreviations for ATODS end in A.
- Abbreviations for Aged Care Assessment Team/ACAT end in AT.
- Abbreviations for Health Centre*/Outpatient Clinic/Primary Health Centre/Primary Healthcare Centre end in C.
- Abbreviations for Dental Clinic end in D.
- Abbreviations for Hospital end in H.
- Abbreviations for Mental Health/Mental Health Service end in M.
- Abbreviations for Multi Purpose Health Service (MPHS) end in MP.
- Abbreviations for Health Care Service/Health Service, with the exception of MPHS, end in S.
- Abbreviations for Unit end in U.

a. Abbreviations for one word facility names include the first three characters of the name followed by A, AT, C*, D, H, M, MP, S, or U (e.g. ROBH Robina Hospital).

b. Abbreviations for multi-word facility names include the initial of each word followed by A, AT, C*, D, H, M, MP, S, or U (e.g. GCUH Gold Coast University Hospital).

* Treatment of potential duplicates:
- Where Child Health Centre forms part of the facility name the abbreviation ends in CHC.
- Where Community Health Centre forms part of the facility name the abbreviation ends in COC.
- Where Child Health forms part of the facility name the abbreviation ends in CH.
- Where Community Health forms part of the facility name the abbreviation ends in COH.
- Where one word facility names would result in duplicate abbreviations being assigned: One abbreviation is retained within the above rules and other abbreviations include additional characters to ensure uniqueness (e.g. BARH Baralaba Hospital and BARCH Barcaldine Hospital).

RULES FOR STANDARDISED FACILITY ABBREVIATIONS POST IMPLEMENTATION:

1. Abbreviations must be unique.

2. Abbreviation size must be between 3 and 6 characters.

3. Ignore leading 'The' in facility name.

4. Where a location forms part of a facility name, and the location is already in use (e.g. RK for Rockhampton), use the same characters to represent the location for consistency.

5. When a service type, or facility type, forms part of the facility name the following suffixes are used:
- Abbreviations for ATODS end in A.
- Abbreviations for Aged Care Assessment Team/ACAT end in AT.
- Abbreviations for Health Centre*/Outpatient Clinic/Primary Health Centre/Primary Healthcare Centre end in C.
- Abbreviations for Dental Clinic end in D.
- Abbreviations for Hospital end in H.
- Abbreviations for Mental Health/Mental Health Service end in M.
- Abbreviations for Multi Purpose Health Service (MPHS) end in MP.
- Abbreviations for Health Care Service/Health Service, with the exception of MPHS, end in S.
- Abbreviations for Unit end in U.

a. Abbreviations for one word facility names include the first three characters of the name followed by A, AT, C*, D, H, M, MP, S, or U (e.g. ROBH Robina Hospital).

b. Abbreviations for multi-word facility names include the initial of each word followed by A, AT, C*, D, H, M, MP, S, or U (e.g. GCUH Gold Coast University Hospital).

* Treatment of potential duplicates:
- Where Child Health Centre forms part of the facility name the abbreviation ends in CHC.
- Where Community Health Centre forms part of the facility name the abbreviation ends in COC.
- Where Child Health forms part of the facility name the abbreviation ends in CH.
- Where Community Health forms part of the facility name the abbreviation ends in COH.
- Where a one word facility name would result in a duplicate abbreviation being assigned: Add additional characters to ensure uniqueness (e.g. BARH Baralaba Hospital and BARCH Barcaldine Hospital).
Corporate Reference Data System (CRDS) Facility data set:
Attribute type is FABBSTD (Facility name abbreviation - standard).
BACKGROUND:
As custodian of the CRDS facility data set and following wide consultation with stakeholders, SSB developed this standard for use in information systems where there is a requirement for facility name abbreviations. CRDS is the state wide authoritative source of medical facility information: refer to Enterprise Information Architecture Implementation Standard.
This standard has been introduced because of inconsistent facility name abbreviations in use across public health information systems, which highlights a potential risk of facility misinterpretation in patient records by clinicians who use multiple systems.
Additionally, the ieMR program required standardised abbreviations for a subset of facilities for display and reporting purposes in the Cerner Millennium solution and desired to comply with a standard.
Some legacy information systems have implemented 'proprietary' facility name abbreviations as database primary keys instead of numeric identifiers, making them difficult to change, and have often have failed to adapt abbreviations when a facility has had a significant change of name.
To minimise impact on legacy information systems at implementation, AUSLAB abbreviations were adopted where there was 'in essence' alignment with current facility names, which results in some naming inconsistency.
Care should be taken when including facility name abbreviations in information systems.
For example, Mater hospital facilities Mater Hospital Brisbane (MTBH) and Mater Mothers' Hospital (MTHPM) do not exist as separate legal entities but are used for reporting Mater's publicly funded activity. That is, they are privately owned but funded by government to provide public hospital services. Therefore, abbreviations for these facilities should be excluded from an information system where the in-scope requirement is Queensland declared public hospital facilities.
COMPLIANCE:
Standardised facility name abbreviations are to be implemented in all new information systems where a requirement for a CRDS facility name abbreviation exists.
Facility abbreviations are not to be implemented as database primary keys. Exchange of data across information systems should always be based on numeric facility identifiers.
Existing information systems that use non-compliant facility name abbreviations are to move to a state of compliance as the systems are upgraded or replaced.
Where duplicate legacy mnemonic codes exist as different facilities in different information systems, non-conforming systems are to be modified to comply with the standard.
CRDS:
The CRDS is a central repository, maintained by the SSB which holds commonly used corporate reference data, including facility data, for use in Queensland public health information systems.
Each facility is uniquely identified by a five-digit numeric code. Facility records include properties such as hospital and health service, operational dates, address details and a number of attributes (e.g. facility name, facility type, short and long name for media publication (reporting) purposes, peer group, etc).
The CRDS facility data set can be browsed in QHEPS via INTERNAL QH LINK NOT AVAILABLE
Client applications can extract facility data online, and also request a copy of the data set from the CRDS Administrator via crds@health.qld.gov.au.
Relational Attributes
Related Metadata References

Related Metadata References_IR

  • 1 - 14
ViewRelationshipMetadata Item TypeMetadata Item SubtypeNameIdentifier & VersionApproval Status
SupersedesData ElementData ElementFacility (name)-standardised abbreviation for information systemsQH 041687 Version 1Superseded
Is related but not equivalent toData ElementData ElementFacility (name)-abbreviation for information system (AUSLAB)QH 041883 Version 1Current
Is related but not equivalent toData ElementData ElementFacility (name)-abbreviation for information system (QRiS)QH 041885 Version 1Current
Is related but not equivalent toData ElementData ElementFacility (name)-abbreviation for information system (The Viewer)QH 041886 Version 1Current
Is related but not equivalent toData ElementData ElementFacility (name)-abbreviation for information system (ieMR)QH 041884 Version 1Current
Is used in conjunction withData ElementData ElementFacility (CRDS)-attribute assigned to facility end dateQH 041879 Version 1Current
Is used in conjunction withData ElementData ElementFacility (CRDS)-attribute assigned to facility start dateQH 041878 Version 1Current
Relates toData ElementData ElementFacility (name)-formal facility nameQH 041880 Version 1Current
Relates toData ElementData ElementFacility (name)-standardised facility long name for published mediaQH 041881 Version 1Current
Relates toData ElementData ElementFacility (name)-standardised facility short name for published mediaQH 041882 Version 1Current
Relates toData ElementData ElementFacility-facility codeQH 040006 Version 2Current
Relates toData ElementData Element ConceptFacilityQH 041826 Version 2Current
Relates toData ElementData Element ConceptFacilityQH 041826 Version 1Superseded
Relates toData ElementData Element ConceptFacility attributeQH 041858 Version 1Current
Implementation in Metadata Sets

Implemented

  • 1 - 2
ViewMetadata Item TypeMetadata Item SubtypeNameIdentifer & VersionObligationApproval StatusEffective FromEffective To
Information AssetData CollectionCorporate Reference Data System (CRDS) - Facility Data SetQH 020271 Version 2ConditionalCurrent01-Jul-2019
Information AssetData CollectionCorporate Reference Data System (CRDS) - Facility Data SetQH 020271 Version 1ConditionalSuperseded01-Jul-201430-Jun-2019
Source and Reference Attributes