Subfield Pathcopy Semi-working

[Darren Tomlinson]

i am receiving ADTs (HL7 version 2.2) from McKesson Series.  PV1-3 (assigned patient location) has no subfields defined within Cloverleaf’s 2.2 structure.  i however have multiple subfields of info.  

i cannot see how to define the subfield within the HL7 Variant section.

if my field looks like this …|1^2^3|… and i do a pathcopy, it will only copy |1^2|.

if i do a copy denoting the subfield with 0(0).PV1.00133.[0] i can put info directly into a subfield.

so i guess i have two questions

1) why does a pathcopy only pull over 2 out of 3 subfields?

2) i’ve noticed other fields that do not have subfields defined (like MSH9), so i dont want to keep having to define all the subfields in copies of random fields.  What can i do to make sure that the interface doesnt drop any subfields?

Topic

[Jim Kosloskey]

Darren,

That field has a maximum length of 12 defined.

Is it possible the inbound data (including the component separators) exceeds 12 characters?

If so just go into the variant and make the field longer.

Jim Kosloskey

email: jim.kosloskey@jim-kosloskey.com 29+ years Cloverleaf, 59 years IT - old fart.

[Darren Tomlinson]

i did notice the 12 lenght, but i tested it literally with 1^2^3 in the field.

also, is there a good source that explains all of the field data types?  ie, CM for composite, etc…

[Jim Kosloskey]

Darren,

The HL7 Organization publishes the entire standard for the various versions.

Your organization (or perhaps you) need to be a member I think to order the doc.

That is my Bible when I want to know what is possible – of course the vendors do not follow the standard most of the time – but I can at least know what should be done.

I have not used PATHCOPY much so I am not sure why you are getting what you are experiencing. Are you PATHCOPYing the entire PV1 segment or just that specific field (I am assuming the entire segment).

Jim Kosloskey

email: jim.kosloskey@jim-kosloskey.com 29+ years Cloverleaf, 59 years IT - old fart.

[Darren Tomlinson]

i was doing a pathcopy of the field, which in retrospect is pointless because it is not defined as having subfields.

i figured out my problem because it was an issue of the field lenght not being big enough.  because it was counting the ^ as characters, it therefore opted to stop at 11 characters instead of adding the second ^ plus the text after it to make 11.

ie cloverleaf chose to copy only 11 characters…

xxxxxxxx^xx

instead of 12

xxxxxxxx^xx^

and my attempted output was 13

xxxxxxxx^xx^x

our organization is a member of HL7.org.  i guess i will have to poke around through their resources.  the one thing that confuses me, is the fact that i cannot download 2.2 specs from them.

[Jim Kosloskey]

Darrren,

The field is defined as CM (Component) Data Type. I think that means there can be as many components as are negotiated by the trading partners (in this case probably unilaterally dictated by the sending system vendor).

I am guessing you did not get detailed specs specifying each field’s content (thereby knowing the max size of the inbound field so you could compare it to the HL/7 standard field length).

This is NOT a Cloverleaf(R) issue. The default standard field lengths are set by HL/7.

It is the responsibility of the sending vendor to tell you when they will be varying from the standard (exceeding the default maximum field length for example) and your responsibilty to make sure you configure to accomodate their variances.

With the exception of the field separator and the field repetition separator the field lengths include separator characters (including escape sequencing where appropriate). That is an HL/7 standard.

Change the field length in the HL/7 variant for the outbound message in Cloverleaf(R) and you will be fine. You did configure a different variant for the inbound and outbound systems didn’t you?

Just make sure to find out what the maximum from the inbound vendor for that field can be.

Jim Kosloskey

email: jim.kosloskey@jim-kosloskey.com 29+ years Cloverleaf, 59 years IT - old fart.

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