Encoding characters

This topic has 9 replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 12 years, 5 months ago by Jim Kosloskey.

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June 25, 2012 at 5:03 pm #53165
Chris Williams
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Has anyone working on Electronic Laboratory Reporting to Public Health (based on 2.5.1) noticed that a 5th encoding character has been introduced? MSH-2 now looks like |^~&#|.

The documentation isn’t all that clear, but the new character, when used as the last character in a field, indicates that field contains truncated data, except, of course, when you see it in MSH-2.

Cheers.
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- June 25, 2012 at 5:55 pm #76763
  Jim Kosloskey
  Participant
  Chris – thanks for the heads up.
  
  One more thing the vendor’s can screw up 🙄
  
  email: jim.kosloskey@jim-kosloskey.com 29+ years Cloverleaf, 59 years IT - old fart.
- June 25, 2012 at 6:05 pm #76764
  Jim Kosloskey
  Participant
  Chris,
  
  I just took a look at my copy of the 2.6 (I have 2.5 and 2.6 – no 2.5.1) HL/7 doc figuring if it is in 2.5.1 it is in 2.6 and I am having difficulty locating any reference to an additiona encoding character.
  
  email: jim.kosloskey@jim-kosloskey.com 29+ years Cloverleaf, 59 years IT - old fart.
- June 25, 2012 at 7:05 pm #76765
  Chris Williams
  Participant
  It actually shows up in HL7 2.7 (see section 2.5.5.2), but didn’t make it into any of the spec’s examples/tables. The ELR spec is based on HL7 2.5.1 but apparently the working group “borrowed” some stuff like this from 2.7.
  
  We’re still running Cloverleaf 5.6. Has HL7 2.7 made it into any of the newer versions?
- June 25, 2012 at 7:09 pm #76766
  Keith McLeod
  Participant
  If they are adding the additional character, one can only assume an additional escape sequence to go along with it. I have not seen this yet, but will keep my eye open for it.
- June 25, 2012 at 7:27 pm #76767
  Chris Williams
  Participant
  Don’t assume :D. It does not involve an escape “sequence” like the other characters. It’s only use is as the last character of a field indicating that its data has been truncated.
- June 26, 2012 at 2:48 pm #76768
  Jim Kosloskey
  Participant
  Even though there are very few systems out there that know what the escape sequence in HL/7 is and even fewer that deploy it I agree with Keith there will need to be a value for escaping that character.
  
  What if someone enters #1 in a text field?
  
  Without escaping, a system sensitive to the meaning of the # as an indication of truncation would probably react improperly.
  
  email: jim.kosloskey@jim-kosloskey.com 29+ years Cloverleaf, 59 years IT - old fart.
- June 26, 2012 at 4:00 pm #76769
  Chris Williams
  Participant
  If the # is not in the last position of the field, it is treated as a regular character.
  
  Before you jump to conclusions, read the HL7 2.7 specification, section 2.5.5.2 “Trunction Pattern” (Ch 2, Pg 11), and try not to shoot the messenger. I’m only bringing this up because of it’s inclusion in the Electronic Laboratory Reporting to Public Health requirements that so many of us must follow to be able to attest for Meaningful Use.
- June 26, 2012 at 5:06 pm #76770
  Jim Kosloskey
  Participant
  Chris,
  
  Just a discussion going on. Since I do not currently have access to the 2.7 doc (working on getting it) I am just bandying about thoughts.
  
  We do appreciate you bringing it to our attention.
  
  email: jim.kosloskey@jim-kosloskey.com 29+ years Cloverleaf, 59 years IT - old fart.
- June 28, 2012 at 9:54 am #76771
  Jim Kosloskey
  Participant
  There is an excellent summary of 2.6/2.7 differences including th escape sequence (L) for the new # delimiter here:
  
  http://www.ringholm.com/docs/00750_en_HL7_27_features.htm
  
  email: jim.kosloskey@jim-kosloskey.com 29+ years Cloverleaf, 59 years IT - old fart.
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