Previous Page TOC Index Next Page

9.5.2 OBX - observation segment usage

The OBX segment is documented in its entirety in Chapter 7. Its usage as it applies to Medical Records/Information Management is documented here for clarity.

Figure 9-5. OBX attributes

SEQ

LEN

DT

OPT

RP/#

TBL#

ITEM#

Element Name

1

4

SI

R



00569

Set ID- Document

2

2

ID

R


0125

00570

Value Type

3

80

CE

O


00571

Observation Identifier

4

20

ST

O



00572

Observation Sub-Id

5

*

*

C/R



00573

Observation Value

6

60

CE

O



00574

Units

7

60

ST

O



00575

Reference Range

8

10

ID

O

Y/5

0078

00576

Abnormal Flags

9

5

NM

O



00577

Probability

10

5

ID

O

0080

00578

Nature of Abnormal Test

11

2

ID

R/NA



00579

Observation Result Status

12

26

TS

C



00580

Date Last Obs Normal Values

13

20

ST

C



00581

User Defined Access Checks

14

26

TS

O



00582

Date/Time of Observation

15

60

CE

C


00583

Producer’s ID

16

60

XCN

O



00584

Responsible Observer

17

60

CE

O

Y

00936

Observation Method

C = For fields OBX-12, OBX-13, and OBX-15, the field should be valued conditionally. These fields should be valued only when the result (OBX-5-observation value) contains a single concept. This is typically true when the result type is numeric, ID, or CE. When multiple medical concepts are expressed, the values of these three fields are ambiguous.* = 256 K or site negotiated

Specialized usage: Observation Identifier/Observation Sub-id have been used as optional fields that are not required in unstructured text where the nature of the document has been identified in TXA-2-document type, which is a required field, but is expressly allowed in the richer structured documentation. An example includes cases where anatomic reports may have separate OBXs for gross examination, microscopic examination, clinical impression, and final diagnosis. Another possible use includes imbedding non-textual observations within textual reports.

Previous Page TOC Index Next Page