Description of the MHS Health Level 7 Microbiology Laboratory Database for Public Health Surveillance
Abstract
The EpiData Center (EDC) at the Navy and Marine Corps Public Health Center (NMCPHC) evaluated the Health Level 7 (HL7) formatted microbiology data source for its usefulness in health surveillance activities. This technical document provides a history of the HL7 microbiology database and its contents, explains the creation of microbiology records, describes the pathway of data from healthcare provider to the EDC, provides a detailed description of all variables within the database, and assesses the databases strengths and limitations. Given an understanding of the strengths and limitations of the data, HL7 microbiology data have proven to be a valuable source of health information for surveillance purposes. The data allow the creation of a timeline of events corresponding to a specific disease occurrence. Furthermore, data are received in a timely fashion, allowing for near real-time surveillance of diseases.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 18, 2019
- Accession Number
- AD1073987
Entities
People
- Beth Poitras
- Jessica Spencer
- Kathleen Creppage
Organizations
- Navy and Marine Corps Public Health Center