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 |
The patient's postal code.
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: X0X0X0
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".
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 MB RHAs outside of Winnipeg
- linking to Stats Canada for socioeconomic stratification of population by geographic area
- cross-checking our data's Province field for out-of-province patients
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 |
table Postal_Code_Master
This is the table that postal codes get checked again. It includes the MB RHA that a postal code is affiliated with. For the MB component we imported a version provided by Marc Silva to p:Julie Mojica 2016-09-08. The country-wide component was based on an older table I think we go it from Stats Can.
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
Related Articles
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.