Background/Aims: The Virtual Data Warehouse (VDW) Vital Signs file is an important data source for clinical information that is often used in VDW-based research. Vital signs traditionally include pulse, diastolic blood pressure, systolic blood pressure, respiratory rate, and body temperature. This file contains multiple records of these data for each patient as well as related data such as measure date, height, weight, body mass index, and position for blood pressure reading. Despite this importance, it has not thus far been subjected to broad, systematic scrutiny for the extent and quality of the data at implementing sites. That is soon to be remedied by the subject effort of the proposed poster. We have devised an analysis plan and are writing code to generate copious amounts of descriptive data. These data and our group’s cross-site analysis thereof will be documented in a report to the HMORN. The report will serve as a basis for establishing the current state of the Vital Signs files at implementing sites, and for making recommendations for future improvements. It should also prove quite useful as a reference for future grant writing efforts.
Methods: Dataset-subject area committees were formed as part of the new HMORN governance of the VDW, composed of programmers and investigators from each site. Each committee has been charged with stewarding its particular dataset specification, and assuring the quality of the implemented files at the various HMORN sites. The Vital Signs subcommittee has prepared specifications for a set of descriptive tables, and a metadata survey inquiring about how the sites have interpreted the current Vitals file specification. Subcommittee members are in the process of writing a VDW program that will be run at each site to produce the desired descriptive tables.
Results: Our report to the Operations Committee will focus on describing the extent and quality of the Vital Signs file data at the various sites, pointing out any inconsistencies in implementations and making recommendations for changes in the specifications. The proposed poster will highlight our findings.
Conclusions: The report will evaluate the extent and quality of vital signs across HMORN sites and identify current ambiguities in the specification that will need to be remedied.