Postal Code field

Data Element (edit)
Field Name:	PostalCode
CCMDB Label:	Postal Code
CCMDB tab:	Dispo
Table:	L_Log table
Data type:	string
Length:	6
Program:	Med and CC
Created/Raw:	Raw
Start Date:	2012-01-01
End Date:	2300-01-01
Sort Index:	33
Data Dependencies(Reports/Indicators/Data Elements):	No results

The patient's postal code.

• SMW

Legacy implementation right in the table

• Cargo

• Categories

• Forms

The Postal_Code field can be edited in the Dispo tab. A postal code is collected for all patients admitted to a hospital within the WRHA. The postal code collected is from the address that a person permanently resides in any Province in Canada.

Collection Instruction

Enter the Postal code

• no space
• upper case letters
• example only: R0A0A0

When the postal code is not available (e.g. John or Jane Doe patient or chart doesn't have postal code) enter "N/A" or click the "N/A" button to enter it for you.

Don't trust Postal Codes from Cognos

Don't trust the postal codes that come from Cognos2, we know that the codes in the data dump can be wrong anc change from day to day, and have been unable get a fix from Decision Support Services. Confirm Postal Codes in EPR and enter the code from EPR if different from Cognos.

Special Cases

Homeless with proxy address

If you have a homeless person admitted who lists their address as Siloam Mission or the Salvation Army/Booth's Place, do NOT use that place's postal code as provided, use N/A for postal code

Code "couch surfers" as "N/A".

CCMDB have Homeless with Postal Code, should the Postal code be ignored and replaced by N/A. Should the R_Province entry be affected by Postal Code N/A? --JMojica 10:54, 24 June 2025 (CDT) We are currently reviewing some of the definitions of homelessness. It is possible that details will change as outcome from that. The concept has been broadened to include some ambiguous states and terminology changed to houselessness. Next meeting later this week about that. I don't expect that it would change instructions of how to code Postal Code; so, it makes sense to me to update vetted data for postal code to "N/A" if the Pre acute living situation is "homeless".

• SMW

• Cargo

• Categories

once this settles I should ensure we have Data Integrity Checks to flag entries like that

• SMW

• Cargo

• Categories

Institutionalized patients

For institutionalized patients (e.g. Prison / Jail / Correctional Institution inmates, care homes), use the institution's postal code.

Out-of-Country patients

Our cross checks would flag the format of out-of-country postal codes, so enter "N/A" for these.

International Students

If they have an address in the Province, enter it, otherwise treat them as #Out-of-Country patients.

Relationship between Province, PHIN and Postal code

When collecting Postal Code, PHIN number and Province, think about the relationship of this information when you are collecting it.

• if patient has a MB PHIN number, then Province code should be MB and the postal code should be for MB (MB postal codes start with an "R").
• if Province code is not MB then the postal code should not be a MB postal code. Enter "not applicable" or the out of province postal code if available, and also, there should not be a PHIN number.

Data Use

Postal Codes are used group patients geographically for purposes such as:

• distribution of patients by Manitoba RHAss outside of Winnipeg
• linking to Stats Canada for socioeconomic stratification of population by geographic area
• Data Integrity Checks for the Province field for out-of-province patients via Postal Code Master table

Grouping by Area

Using the first three digits of the code, as done for Data definition for contributing factors for the Overstay2 project

• Winnipeg: ('R2B', 'R2C', 'R2E', 'R2G', 'R2H', 'R2L', 'R2M', 'R2N', 'R2P', 'R2R', 'R2S', 'R2V', 'R2Z', 'R3A', 'R3C', 'R3G', 'R3H', 'R3J', 'R3K', 'R3L', 'R3M', 'R3N', 'R3R', 'R3V', 'R3W', 'R3X', 'R3Y')
• Northern MB: ('R9A')
• Rest MB: ('R0A', 'R0E', 'R0V', 'R0X', 'R1A', 'R1N', 'R1W', 'R4A', 'R4B', 'R4H', 'R5A', 'R5G', 'R5H', 'R5K', 'R5L', 'R5M', 'R5N', 'R5P', 'R5R', 'R5T', 'R6M', 'R6P', 'R6T', 'R6W', 'R7A', 'R7B')
• North-Western Ontario: ('P0X', 'P0Y', 'P9N', 'P8T', 'P8N', 'P0W', 'P9A')

Data Integrity Checks (automatic list)

	App	Status
Check pre acute consistent	CCMDB.accdb	declined
Check Function Validate PostalCode	CCMDB.accdb	implemented
Query NDC Bad Postal Code	Centralized data front end.accdb	implemented
Query NDC Postal Code over time	Centralized data front end.accdb	implemented

Start/end Dates

Start Date: new admissions on and after January 1, 2012 End Date: None / Permanent Collection

Wikipedia Postal codes listings across Canada

Wikipedia, Postal codes in Canada

Legacy

Data started out being collected in the tmp field until June 1, 2016. The Postal Code from tmp populated the PostalCode field of Centralized_data on Jun 22, 2016.