Postal code collection

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.

The entry L_TmpV2 entry for Postal Code collection will be automatically created for any new patient created. Data is collected for socioeconomic stratification of population by geographic area.

Collection Instruction

Enter the postal code in the automatically generated PostalCode record in the temp table.

• "Q"(note, that's the last field on the form, not the first!): enter the patient's postal code example only: X1X1X1, ie no space
  • Use Upper Case letters in the postal code with no space between please.
  • When the postal code is not available, tick off the "B" and leave the space for postal code blank

Relationship between Province, PHIN and Postal Code

When collecting Postal Code, PHIN number and Province Code, 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 outside of MB, USA or out of country, then the postal code should not be a MB postal code and also, there should not be an PHIN number.

There have been some automated integrity checks applied to ccmdb to help collectors further with this. See bottom of this article.

Wikipedia Postal codes listings across Canada

[1]

• at the top of the article shows the the first letter that a postal code starts with for a province.

Map showing first letter used in postal codes across Canada

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, use their postal code as provided.

Institutionalized patients

For patients who live in care homes, use the institution's postal code.

Inmates

For inmates such as from Stoney Mountain or Headingley use the institution's postal code.

Postal Code not available

If a postal code is unavailable for a patient, tick off the "B" and leave the space for postal code blank. e.g.:

• John/Jane Doe
• out-of-country patient
• chart doesn't have postal code

Template:CCMDB Data Integrity Checks

Unlike other tmp entries, this entry is not checked as part of the pre-send checker.

• if the province is a Canadian province then the postal code needs to be filled out and needs to start with the letter appropriate for that province, e.g. R for Manitoba
• entry must be structured like a proper postal code:
  • must be in upper case
  • no spaces allowed
  • must be letter number letter number letter number
  • example only: X1X1X1

confirmed 2014-Jul-07 that this check will prevent final-check for tmp when no postal code is entered.

Dates

Start Date: 2011-Dec-12

Start putting in the postal code for all new admissions on and after January 1, 2012

End Date: None / Permanent Collection