Converting free text name field to Lastname^Firstname^I

[Bob Deemer]

Send system sends IN1-16 as free text that should be entered like this

|LASTNAME, FIRSTNAME MI|

Receiving system need IN1-16 in this format

|LASTNAME^FIRSTNAME^MI|  which would be IN1-16.1, IN1-16.2 and IN1-16.3

Being free text, it is not certain that sending system with be consistant.

Can this be done and how ?  I’m at a loss and am fairly new to cloverleaf.

Topic

[Charlie Bursell]

Computers are “RULE” based machines.  If you cannot come up with a consistent rule it will be very hard to parse the inbound data.

Given the inbound field will be as defined with possible multiple spaces:

In translate define Input field as IN1.#16[0] and Outbound as IN1.#16.[0] IN1.#16.[1] IN1.#16.[2]

In a Tcl fragment:

set inpList  [split [lindex $xlateInVals 0] ,]

set LAST [lindex $inpList 0]

set FIRST [lindex [lindex $inpList 1] 0]

set MID [lindex [lindex $inpList 1] 1]

set xlateOutVals

This will handle spaces in the last name but not the first name

[Bob Deemer]

Charlie, thank you so much.  I’m trying to make sure the users are instructed to enter data in IN1-16 in a certain manner, but we all know that mistakes will be made.  I really appreciate your help.

[Robert Kersemakers]

How about

Code:

set inpList  [split [lindex $xlateInVals 0] ,]
set LAST [lindex $inpList 0]
set part [lindex $inpList 1]
set last_space [string last ” ” $part]
set FIRST [string trim [string range $part 0 $last_space]]
set MID [string trim [string range $part $last_space end]]
set xlateOutVals [list $LAST $FIRST $MID]

This way everything after the last space in the first/middlename part of the name, will be considered middle name; before the last space is the first name.

Zuyderland Medisch Centrum; Heerlen/Sittard; The Netherlands

[Glenn Friedenreich]

Hi Bob – We have the same name format coming out of our old McKesson Plus 2000 HIS system as you have coming from your source system.  The only thing that’s guaranteed is that a last name precedes the comma in the name field.  After the comma, there is usually a first name and middle initial, but sometimes there will also be a suffix, prefix or degree.  

We’ve been using the attached tcl proc to to parse the free-text name into standard HL7 name format:

LastName^FirstName^MiddleInitial^Suffix^Prefix^Degree

The attached proc calls this table lookup proc to extract a suffix, prefix, degree and/or baby designator:

proc xlt_ccTagNameElement {element} {

  set tag {noTag}

  switch -exact — $element {

     JR – SR – II – III – IV – 2ND – 3RD – 4TH {

        set tag {suffix}

     }

     MS – MR – MRS {

        set tag {prefix}

     }

     MD – DR – PHD {

        set tag {degree}

     }

     BB – BBA – BBB – BBC – BBD – BBE – BBF –

     BG – BGA – BGB – BGC – BGD – BGE – BGF {

        set tag {baby}

     }

  }

  return $tag

The procs have been working reasonably well for the past  9 years.  Occasionally we’ll have a problem where strange things come out of HIS, but it’s pretty rare that we have to manually intervene and “fix” a name.

As Charlie noted, you will never get a perfect parse 100% of the time when trying to convert free-text into discrete elements.

– Glenn

[Bob Deemer]

Thank you Gentlemen, all of you.  The response to my problem has been awesome.  CloverTech Forums is a wonderful tool.

[Russ Ross]

xlt_parse_name.tcl is the proc we have been using to help fix our malformed patient names:

Code:

# Begin Module Header ==========================================================
#
# —–
# Name:
# —–
#
# xlt_parse_name.tcl
#
# ——–
# Purpose:
# ——–
#
# Parse out the last_name first_name middle_initial
# and return the desired name specified.
#
# ———–
# Input Args:
# ———–
#
# $xlateInVals 0 – entire_name
# $xlateInVals 1 – the desired name to return via $xlateInVals 0
#                  valid valuse are
#
#                  first             (returns first name only)
#                  middle            (returns middle initial only)
#                  last              (returns last name only)
#                  last^first^middle (returns entire name in HL7 delimited format)
#
# ———–
# Output Args:
# ———–
#
# $xlateOutVals 0 – the desired name
#
# ——
# Notes:
# ——
#
# Example of Normal Usage:
#
#    refer to $HCIROOT/test_russ/parse_hl7_v23_name.xlt
#    refer to $HCIROOT/test_russ/parse_flat_name.xlt
#
# Example of name variations tested for desired_name = “last^first^middle” :
#
#        name_in               name_out
#        ——-               ——–
#    01) Ross^Russ^K           Ross^Russ^K
#    02) Ross^Russ             Ross^Russ
#    03) Ross^Russ^            Ross^Russ
#    04) Ross^Russ^,           Ross^Russ
#    05) Ross^Russ K           Ross^Russ^K
#    06) ^Russ^                ^Russ
#    07) ^Russ                 ^Russ
#    08) Ross^                 Ross
#    09) Ross, Russ K          Ross^Russ^K
#    10) Ross ,Russ K          Ross^Russ^K
#    11) Ross, Russ            Ross^Russ
#    12) Ross, Russ,           Ross^Russ
#    13) Ross, Russ,^          Ross^Russ
#    14) Ross ,Russ            Ross^Russ
#    15) Ross ,Russ,           Ross^Russ
#    16) Ross ,Russ,^          Ross^Russ
#    17) Ross, Russ Jr. K      Ross^Russ Jr^K
#    18) Ross ,Russ Jr. K      Ross^Russ Jr^K
#    19) Ross, Russ III, K     Ross^Russ III^K
#    20) Ross ,Russ III ,K     Ross^Russ III^K
#    21) De La Cruz, David     De La Cruz^David
#    22) De La Cruz ,David     De La Cruz^David
#    23) Ross                  Ross
#    24) De La Cruz            De La Cruz
#    25) Ross^ ^               Ross
#    26) Ross^^K               Ross^^K
#    27) Russ K                Russ^^K          (this case works as programmed)
#    28) Ross^^                Ross
#    29) Ross^R^K              Ross^R^K
#    30) Ross^R                Ross^R
#    31) Ross^R^               Ross^R
#
# UPoC type = xltp
#
# Assumes that the middle initial will be present
# if the last 2 characters are ” X” where X is the middle initial
# or the last 2 characters are “^X” where X is the middle initial
#
# All data is presented through special variables.  The initial
# upvar in this proc provides access to the required variables.
#
# This proc style only works when called from a code fragment
# within an XLT.
#
# ——–
# History:
# ——–
#
# 1999.09.15 Russ Ross
#          – wrote initial version.
#
# 2006.03.23 Russ Ross
#          – probably modified to get rid of commas in the last_name
#
# 2007.05.30 Russ Ross
#          – added logic to handle cases 30) and 31) above
#            without impacting cases 01) – 29)
#
# End Module Header ============================================================

proc xlt_parse_name {} {
  upvar xlateId xlateId      
  xlateInList   xlateInList  
  xlateInTypes  xlateInTypes  
  xlateInVals   xlateInVals  
  xlateOutList  xlateOutList  
  xlateOutTypes xlateOutTypes
  xlateOutVals  xlateOutVals

#————————————————-
#  Set the input argument(s),
#  since it is a list, also convert it to a string
#————————————————-

  set name_in      [string trim [lindex $xlateInVals 0]]
  set desired_name [string trim [lindex $xlateInVals 1]]
#
#———————-
#  initialize varibales
#———————-

  set first_name      “”
  set middle_initial  “”
  set last_name       “”

#  Note: a blank can not be a name delimiter
#  —————————————–
  set name_delimiters “^,”

#————————-
#  pre-process the name_in
#————————-

  regsub -all {.} $name_in ” ” name_in
  regsub -all {_} $name_in ” ” name_in
  set name_in [string trim $name_in ” “]
  set name_in [string trimright $name_in “$name_delimiters “]
#  puts “name_in=($name_in)”

#———————————-
#  see if there is a middle initial
#———————————-

  set iend [expr [string length $name_in]-1]
  set istart [expr $iend-1]
  set last_2_chars [string range $name_in $istart $iend]
  set last_2_chars [string trim $last_2_chars ” “]
  set last_2_chars [string trimleft $last_2_chars “$name_delimiters “]
  if {[string length $last_2_chars] == 1} {
     set middle_initial $last_2_chars
  }
  #—————————————————–
  # check to to avoid glitch that occurs
  # when the first name is one character
  # and there is no middle initial (for example: Ross^R)
  #—————————————————–
  set split_first_name     [lindex [split $name_in ^] 1]
  set split_middle_initial [lindex [split $name_in ^] 2]
  if {([string length $split_first_name] == 1) & ([string length $split_middle_initial] == 0)} {
     set middle_initial “”
  }
#  echo “middle_initial=($middle_initial)”

#———————————————————————-
#  trim any characters from the end of the name_in string
#  so that name_in string only contains the last_name and/or first_name
#———————————————————————-

  set last_first_name $name_in
  if {$middle_initial != “”} {
     set iend [expr [string length $name_in]-3]
     set last_first_name [string range $last_first_name 0 $iend]
  }

#————————————————-
#   determine if there is a first and/or last name
#————————————————-

  set iend [expr [string length $name_in]-1]
  set last_first_name [string range $last_first_name 0 $iend]
  set last_first_name [string trimright $last_first_name “$name_delimiters “]
#  echo “last_first_name=($last_first_name)”
  set iend [expr [string length $last_first_name]-1]

  for {set i $iend}   {$i >= 0}   {incr i -1} {
     set next_char [string range $last_first_name $i $i]
     if {[string first $next_char $name_delimiters] != -1} {
#        a name_delimiter has been found
#        ——————————-
        set first_name [string range $last_first_name $i $iend]
        set first_name [string trim $first_name “$name_delimiters “]
        set last_name [string range $last_first_name 0 $i]
        regsub -all {,} $last_name “” last_name
        set last_name [string trim $last_name “$name_delimiters “]
   break
     }
  }

  if {$i<0} {
#     no name_delimiter was found so there is no first_name
#     —————————————————–
     regsub -all {,} $last_name "" last_name
     set last_name [string trim $last_first_name "$name_delimiters "]
  }

#   echo "first_name=($first_name)"
#   echo "last_name=($last_name)"

#————————————————-
#  Set the output argument to the desired_name,
#  since it is a string, also convert it to a list
#————————————————-

  switch -exact $desired_name {

     last^first^middle {
                       set name_out $last_name^$first_name^$middle_initial
        set name_out [string trimright $name_out "$name_delimiters "]
                       }

     first             {
        set name_out $first_name
                       }

     middle            {
        set name_out $middle_initial
                       }

     last              {
        set name_out $last_name
                       }

     default           {
        echo "n ——————————————–"
        echo "n Error in in TCL proc (xlt_parse_name)"
        echo "n Bad xlate argument was passed to this module"
        echo "n desired_name = ($desired_name)"
        echo "n ——————————————–"
        echo "n"
        set name_out "error bad arg"
                       }
  }
  set xlateOutVals [list $name_out]
}

Russ Ross
RussRoss318@gmail.com

[Author]

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